
Book . 3T/ 

Coi5Tight)^^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SPIRITUAL CONSIDERATIONS 



By the same Jluthor. 

THE PERFECTION OF MAN BY 
CHARITY. 

A SPIRITUAL RETREAT. 

A GOOD PRACTICAL CATHOLIC. With 

Prefatory Letter by H. E. Cardinal 

Vaughan. 

A FEW AIDS TO FAITH. 

A FEW FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RE- 
LIGIOUS LIFE. 

HOLY MATRIMONY AND SINGLE 

BLESSEDNESS. 
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION THROUGH 

CHARITY. [In preparation. 



SPIRITUAL 
CONSIDERATIONS 



BY 

Fr. H. Reginald Buckler, O.P. 

•I 



Cogitavi vias meas; et converti pedes 

meos in testimonia tua, 

Ps. cxviii. 59. 



New York, Cincinnati, Chicago 

BENZIGER BROTHERS 

PRINTERS TO THE 1 PUBLISHERS OP 

HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE | BENZIGER*8 MAGAZINE 

I9II 






^0 



Vlibfl ®b6tat. 



Fr. Edw. G. Fitzgerald, O.P., S.T.L. 
Fr. JohnT. McNicholas, O.R, S.T.L. 



f mptimi potest 



F. W. LiNAHAN, O.P., 

Vic, Prov, 



Vlibil Ototat. 



Rbmy Lafort, 

Censor Librorum, 



fmptfmatur* 



4«JoHN M. Farley, 

Archbishop of New York, 



New York, November 22, 1910. 



Copyright, 1911, by Benziger Brothers. 



©CI.A283298 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Parable of the Sower 7 
11. Earnestness in Spiritual 

Life 26 

III. Impediments to Progress . 42 

IV. The Right Spirit Within 50 
V. The Spirit of Our State . 61 

VI. The Unseen World ... 70 
VIL Self-training and Discip- 
line 96 

VIII. Mutual Love 102 

IX. Outer Works and Inner 

Spirit 110 

X. The Liturgical Spirit . .120 

XL The Apostolic Spirit . . 145 

XII. Intellectual Culture . . 161 

XIII. Spiritual Culture. . . .178 

XIV. The Divine Agency of 

Creatures 190 

XV. The Divine Model of Obedi- 
ence 199 

XVI. Abstract and Concrete Spir- 
ituality 207 

XVII. Charity's Purifying Power 218 
XVIIL The Governance of the 

Holy Ghost .... 228 



Spiritual Considerations 



xnje parable of tbe Sower 

^VERY time we hear the parable of the 
sower, it seems to strike our souls with 
a force and impressiveness quite its own. 
The illustration from nature is so perfectly 
clear : Our Lord Himself carefully explains 
His meaning; and thus its application to our 
souls is quite unmistakable. 

We all know what it is to sow seeds. Each 
seed is the germ of a living plant: and our 
instinct is to value them for the sake of our 
future benefit and profit, knowing that if 
they are wasted, or devoured, or trodden 
under foot, or not used at proper time, the 
fruits will be lost beyond recovery. 

It is further clear to us that the seeds de- 
pend entirely for their future development 
upon the ground into which they fall. Some 
fall by the wayside; others upon shallow, 
barren ground; some among thorns; others 

7 



8 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

finally on good ground. Let us observe at 
once that three out of these four kinds of 
ground prove to be ill-disposed for the life 
of the seed. Only the good ground supplies 
the requirements for its growth. 

We know that our divine Master is here 
teaching us the things of grace by those of 
nature. 

He tells us that the seed is the Word of 
God. O how often does God speak to our 
souls ! How many a light does He send into 
the minds of men ! To some, not yet having 
it, He gives, or maybe He offers, the light 
of faith. It is the offering of a gift. For 
"every best and perfect gift is from above, 
coming down from the Father of lights.^'^ 
This light, speaking His truth, His word. 
His will to a soul, may come but once, or it 
may come again and again, for God is 
Master of His gifts. But a grace once lost 
never returns, any more than time lost re- 
turns. God may give new graces, or He 
may not. One light leads to another, and 
grace follows grace. But if a soul reject 
light and grace, who shall say what the re- 
sults may be ? It is easy to reject others also. 
And ''the repetition of irregularities pro- 
duces habits, and thus the inner constitution 

7ames i. 17. 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 9 

is spoiled, and the upright become corrupt/^^ 
The Psalmist gives the rule in the way of 
grace, To-day, if you shall hear His voice, 
harden not your hearts. 

To those already possessing the gift of 
faith God speaks in countless ways. First, 
by the inspired word, as He speaks to us now 
in the parable of the sower. And every text 
of Holy Writ is truly the divine voice to our 
souls. Only it behooves us to remember that 
God being so great and man so little, we are 
frequently unable to penetrate to the truths 
underlying the inspired words. For God's 
ways are not our ways, nor our thoughts 
His thoughts. Hence it has been well said 
that Scripture is not a science of the mind, 
but of the heart, and is unintelligible save to 
those whose heart is right.^ 

As here below "we walk by faith and not 
by sight,'' God does not show Himself. 
"Verily, Thou art a hidden God."' Yet He 
speaks to us clearly both His truth and His 
will — His truth through the creeds and the 
living voice of the Church and His will 
through the commandments. Moreover, the 
light of reason is a divine light in the mind, 
and its dictates are the voice of God to the 

^Butler's Anal. p. i, c. 5. ^Pascal. 
^Is. xlv. 15. 



10 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

soul. Further, the laws of our state of life 
bespeak the will of God to be done. The 
voice of superiors represents the divine 
presence and authority to us. Finally, to 
consecrated souls who offer the holocaust 
and strive in earnest to be all for God, the 
divine Lover Himself comes. As Our Lord 
says, "We will come to him and make our 
abode with him; and I will manifest myself 
to him.''^ ''Many a visit doth He make to the 
internal man: sweet is His communication 
with him, delightful His consolation, and a 
familiarity exceedingly to be admired.''^ 
''Send forth Thy light and Thy truth.''^ 
How often does God give the dartings of 
His light and the touches of His love to those 
who are all for Him ! / am the Lord thy God, 
that teach thee profitable things, that govern 
thee in the way thou walkest^ Hearken to 
My voice, and I will he your God, and you 
shall he My people, and walk ye in all the 
way I have commanded you, that it may he 
well with you.^ Follow the Lord your God, 
and hear His voice. Him shall you serve, 
and to Him shall you cleave.^ 

As in all these various ways, throughout 
the course of our lives, God deals with us by 

'John xiv. 23. ^Imit. ii. i. ^Ps. xlii. 3. 

^Is. xlviii. 17. ^Jer. vii. 23. ^Deut. xiii. 4. 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER ii 

the manifold givings of His grace, light, and 
love, all bespeaking His word to our souls, 
so we have to consider in what disposition 
our souls may be as to receiving and respond- 
ing to His divine communications. And here 
the divine Teacher Himself instructs us by 
likening the different conditions of men's 
souls to the different kinds of ground named 
in the parable upon which the good seed falls. 

First, the seed falls by the wayside. Oh, 
how this strikes home to thousands and mil- 
lions of us! How often has the divine 
Word fallen on you externally and not pen- 
etrated internally! Who could count up 
those souls nowadays to whom God has 
spoken the truth of His Church, yet — how 
was it? The Word fell upon them — to-day 
if you shall hear His voice, harden not your 
hearts. But the costs were too great. They 
would not be persuaded. They would not 
understand. They did not will to believe. 

The lack of desire is the ill of all ills. 

Faith is of the will, as well as of the in- 
tellect, and above all it is of the grace of 
God. It is a gift. "By grace you are saved, 
through faith: and that not of yourselves, 
for it is the gift of God."^ The gift was 
offered but it was not taken. It was like the 

lEph. ii. 8. 



12 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

seed upon the surface that did not sink in. 
Thus it was carried off, or trodden under 
foot; or even, awful to consider, yet the 
Master says it, "the devil cometh, and taketh 
the Word out of their heart, lest believing, 
they should be saved/' "If thou hadst but 
known, and that in this thy day, the things 
that are to thy peace : but now they are hid- 
den from thy eyes."^ A grace once lost never 
returns. They may drown their thoughts 
and their conscience in the whirl of natural 
activity. But not to go forward in the way 
of God is to go back; and not to improve is 
to deteriorate. To reject the light is to ex- 
tinguish the spirit.^ Probably such souls 
become more and more embittered against 
the true Faith. Such is to be expected when 
the human spirit prevails against the divine. 
Or maybe their interior is in that state of 
bitter contradiction of which St. Bernard 
speaks when the intellect shows the right 
thing and the will refuses to do it.^ It is 
clear that the whole of this line of thought 
applies in equal measure to things of grace 
and spirituality as it does to those of faith. 

*Luke xix. 42. 

'Extinguish not the spirit, i Thess. v. 19. 

^Utinam hac ut intellectum admonent, moveant et af- 
fectum, ne sit intus amarissima contradictio, et divisio 
molestissima. Serm. 5 in Ascens. 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 13 

How many children of the Church and of 
religion will have to consider carefully here ? 

Consideration like an angel came. 

Look now into your lives and into your 
hearts, and consider how many precious 
lights and helps and drawings to divine 
things are vouchsafed to you. Do you re- 
flect that the Word of God, the grace of 
God, the light of God, the love of God, fall 
upon your soul? Yes, fall upon you. But 
the seed falls on the wayside, too. Light, 
grace, and love are given to you ten times, 
twenty, fifty. Months and years roll by, and 
graces come in rills and cataracts. There 
is no question about the coming of grace. 
Does not Our Lord Himself come to us at 
every Mass ? Does He not forgive in every 
absolution? Does He not speak His Word 
in every verse of the Divine Office? Many a 
time you open the New Testament, the "Imi- 
tation,^^ and spiritual books. Oh, what lights 
then fall upon the soul ! But do not miss the 
mark ! It is not the falling of the seed, but 
the sinking in that has so specially to be 
attended to. How often have we listened to 
the best principles of Christian, Catholic, re- 
ligious, and spiritual life. But somehow 
they come and go. We see them and we ap- 
prove of them. But do they become realities 



14 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

within our souls ? Even the old heathen poet 
has said: 

Video meliora, proboque; deteriora sequor. 

What a difference there is between the 
abstract and the concrete, between theories 
and facts, between the words of wisdom and 
the works. How is it? The mind sees, but 
the heart wanders. Semper hi errant corde. 
While these souls approve and applaud the 
best things, they do not really and effectually 
love them and will them. They do not go to 
mental prayer with anything like the relish 
they go to sporting, smoking, or novel read- 
ing! Where thy treasure is, there is thy 
heart also. They even sometimes feel a dis- 
inclination to assist at or to serve an extra 
Mass, although the Mass means our dear 
Lord coming directly to us. They feel an 
irksomeness at the Divine Office and a readi- 
ness to shirk it, although they are the very 
trumpets of the Church sending up her 
praises and prayers from earth to heaven. 
And in times of special grace, such as re- 
treats and spiritual conferences, as well as 
in the ordinary daily reading of holy books, 
the words of God so divinely communicated 
to them are listened to attentively and ap- 
provingly, and yet the heart and will and 
affections not really opening to them, they 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 15 

are practically neglected and lost, and must 
be compared to the seeds falling on the way- 
side. And maybe even the precious seeds 
of grace are trodden under foot or devoured 
by the malice of evil spirits. How sad not 
to be as wise in the things of grace as we 
are in those of nature ! 

Other seeds there are that fall on barren 
ground. They sink in to some extent, and to 
some small degree they grow, the blade ap- 
pears, and they spread and expand a little. 
But the quality of the ground is so poor and 
the nourishment they receive so small that 
their development is clean hindered, and so 
weakly are the young growths that when 
the winds and storms arise they are blown 
down and wither away, and this ''because 
they had no roots. '^ They had a fair look in 
their little way, but no real root or strength. 
How many souls are thus shown forth! 
Those who give more attention to the Word 
of God, the grace of God, the love and will 
of God, and the things of God, than those 
likened to the wayside; for spiritual things 
grow to some extent within them. The 
truths of faith take a certain hold of their 
minds if they are yet outside the fold — grow 
and expand within them to some extent, but 
impediments abound : the way of the Lord is 



i6 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

not yet made straight within them. "Sub- 
jectivism in religion'' is a good deal too much 
there. Humility and the childlike disposi- 
tion toward the Church are yet wanting. In- 
tellectual activity is too strong. Nor are 
they sufficiently trained to confidence in God 
and diffidence in themselves. Affairs of the 
heart, too, are so often impeditiva. God acts 
by law. Faith is a gift and a grace. If man 
will keep impediments to faith within him, 
it is his own lookout. The gift is not given 
till the hindrances are removed. Prepara- 
tions to faith by intellectual convictions may 
be there. But faith itself is an infused vir- 
tue, a "perfect gift, coming down from the 
Father of lights.''^ And it is not given till 
the soul is fit, prepared, and disposed to re- 
ceive it by a quiet, humble, childlike, and 
receptive mind. 

The like considerations are also applicable 
to the things of grace in the spiritual life of 
the children of the Church. Religious men 
and women and priests and those aspiring to 
spirituality again and again hear, read, and 
learn the principles of holiness and spiritual 
progress. They are taught that union with 
God by perfect charity is the end of life ; that 
the vows, rules, and respective virtues and 

'James i. 17. 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 17 

works of their state are the ways and means 
thereto, and therefore have to be faithfully- 
carried out, in view to daily advancement to 
this end. Prayer and mortification are 
shown to be the lifelong accompaniments to 
charity; and as souls progress daily in their 
life of love, they have also to progress day 
by day in prayer and mortification. More- 
over, the inner life of love has to work in all 
our ordinary actions, lest we be theoretical 
and not practical ; lest we have the words of 
wisdom without the works. How often are 
these truths, and so many others connected 
with them, impressed upon us! They are 
taken in at the time and pondered upon after- 
ward, yet somehow they do not grow to any 
extent within the spiritual ground of the 
soul; they are not really assimilated with 
mind and heart — not carefully kept and con- 
sistently acted upon. Care is needed, will 
power is wanted, to train and discipline the 
soul to the work. But so it is; nature is 
strong and grace is weak. Old habits are 
with difficulty unformed: and by constant 
indulgence they become second nature, and 
thoughts, desires, and afiPections follow ac- 
cordingly. Thus souls easily incline to their 
natural propensities, and quickly develop 
"'perverse habitudes," and stronger tempta- 



i8 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

tions arising, and the higher habit and prin- 
ciple of virtue not being yet in possession, or 
''having no roots,'' is soon overcome, blown 
down and withers away. How many are 
thus found who begin a spiritual course ; but 
their progress is desultory. Somehow they 
do not make it their "one project/' And so 
they are quickly ''drawn away and allured."^ 
If they think of divine things sometimes, 
they think of creatures and natural pleasures 
habitually. They are not "all for God." 
They are not wholly, constantly, consistently 
devoted to His love and service. Thus they 
"last for a while, and in time of temptation 
they fall away." 

But the good seed is now found falling 
among thorns. It sinks into the earth and 
grows in its own hidden way, and spreads 
and rises upward, and might have thriven 
had not its growth been thwarted and utterly 
choked by the thorns. Our Lord distinctly 
tells us what all this means. The thorny 
ground bespeaks that large class of souls 
whose higher life and aspirations are stifled 
by the allurements of the world. These are 
"they who, having heard, go their way, and 
are choked with the cares and riches and 
pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit." 

*James i. 14. 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 19 

"Having heard, they go their way/' How 
descriptive of poor human nature going its 
own way, heedless of divine grace! How 
abundantly the Word of God has been heard, 
and the truths of faith declared ! In omnem 
terram exivit sonus eorum. But having 
heard, they go their way — they go their own 
way — they do not follow the ways of God's 
light and grace. They do not calmly and 
consistently yield themselves to the light that 
is offered them. Or maybe they have the 
light to see but not the courage to do. Would 
that all who look toward the true Faith 
would remember the word of the great soul 
who said ''I will not blink the question."^ 
The costs indeed of a conversion are often 
immense, and at times appalling. But the 
law is there. ''Who is like to God" ? Many 
have done it, and have given up all for God. 
"What shall it profit a man to gain the whole 
world, and lose his own soul'' ? Yet it must 
be feared that countless are the numbers of 
those whose affections and attachments to 
the things of this life so blear their mental 
vision, and so engage their desires and 
hearts, that the gift of faith offered them, 
the Word of God, and the good seed, sink- 
ing in to some degree, and rising upwards 

^Newman. Lett. Sept. 22, 1839. 



20 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

in their lives for a while, is before long 
stunted, blasted, suffocated, and, as Our Lord 
says, ''choked with the cares, and riches, and 
pleasures of this life,'^ and thus ''yields no 
fruit." And in like manner looking to those 
of the household of Faith, and of religion, 
too, and others chosen by God for His love 
and service, those in training for Him, and 
those in priestly life — whether we consider 
past times or present — how many lights and 
graces they have had — the Word of God 
strikes in upon them forcibly again and 
again — they see the better things, they know 
the better ways — they have learnt much, 
they have thought much, they have had re- 
peated presentments of the best ideals of 
life — they read Our Lord's words in the 
Gospel day by day, they use good spiritual 
books, they study the science of the Church, 
they go daily to Our Lord in the Mass, and 
habitually to the sacraments, nor do they 
live in worldly surroundings, but rather in 
religious atmosphere. Yet, how is it ? After 
all, locus non facit sanctos. Is it not often 
too true, that after hearing the best things 
they "go their way" — go their own way, not 
God's way? If they are not caught by 
riches, they are caught by pleasure, self- 
gratification, and indolence. These easily 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 21 

run away with our time, thoughts, and af- 
fections; and multiplied acts soon pass into 
formed habits. These are cases of nature 
versus grace. Which will gain the ascend- 
ency? Life goes on, and souls are found 
gaining and losing. What care they ought 
to have! The soul is the kingdom of God, 
and God seeks to gain it. He claims it as 
His own, and all this light, love, and grace 
that He gives, is to get it for Himself. Yet 
souls will go their own way. And the lower 
things choke the higher. Human nature 
is weak. Indulge a propensity and you 
strengthen it. Indulge the higher love of 
God and divine things, and it will strengthen. 
Indulge the lower love of fleshly and selfish 
pleasures, and they strengthen. And the 
higher languish for want of use, and the 
lower strengthen from exercise. What is all 
this but the good seed choked by the thorns ? 
But God be praised — let us come to the good 
ground — the only ground that brings forth 
the fruit. 

How many we have seen and known who 
when the living Word has spoken the true 
Faith to their souls, have taken it in, with ''a 
good and perfect heart," loving it better than 
dear friends, and all worldly advantages and 
prospects, letting everything go for the sake 



22 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

of the pearl of great price! What less can 
be done, if a soul prefer the Creator to the 
creature, and knows that it is bound to be 
loyal to its highest convictions? Love is 
preference: and the love of God must have 
no second place in the heart of man. And so 
it is through all our spiritual life, if we are 
to be the real thing. All earnest souls have 
constantly to be opening their eyes to the 
best principles. The inspired Word in every 
page bespeaks them to us. Our Lord's own 
words, the words of the apostles, of the 
Holy Fathers, doctors, and saints; the 
breathings of the Holy Spirit in such books 
as the 'Tmitation," and the many spiritual 
treatises that bring the Word of God and 
the science of the saints into our souls, all 
these fall as the good seed into the good 
ground. These are they who ''in a good and 
perfect heart hearing the Word, keep it, and 
bring forth fruit in patience.'' Here is the 
difference between the good ground and all 
the rest. The good ground keeps the good 
seed, and has all the qualities enabling the 
seed to grow to its perfection through all its 
stages, expanding and developing to the per- 
fect plant and tree, yielding its fruits in all 
sweetness and abundance. And these are the 
souls who, hearing, and knowing, and con- 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 23 

sidering with willing minds and loving 
hearts the divine words bespeaking God's 
will, and love, and service, take them in with 
full response and relish, loving them as they 
love nothing else on earth, and with Mary 
pondering them in their hearts, and all this 
to be "doers of the Word, and not hearers 
only'' :^ for "hearing the Word they keep it." 
O how clear is the difference between those 
who hear and know, yea, and teach the 
Word, and those who do it! How many 
there are who, as the old heathen poet says, 
see the better things, and approve them, and 
yet do the worse! "Not the hearers of the 
law are just before God, but the doers of the 
law shall be justified."^ "If you know these 
things, you shall be blessed if you do them."^ 
"Blessed are they who hear the Word of 
God, and keep it."^ And not only keep it, 
but keep it with "a good and perfect heart." 
It is the heart, and the perfect heart, that 
God seeks and desires more than all. And 
this best of all loves, God's own love, engag- 
ing the heart, spurs the soul on to all the 
works of life ; and thus, like the good ground, 
the perfect heart yields its fruits, and the 
perfect lover of God moves onwards and up- 
wards by constant aspirations to union with 

*James i. 22, ^Rom. ii. 13. ^Jq^h xiii. 17. ^Luke xi. 28. 



24 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

Him, in the life of mutual love, its love work- 
ing in a thousand different ways, bringing 
forth the virtues of Christian religious life, 
thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and a hundred-fold. 
And this life of love and union in the perfect 
heart and the perfect lover, attained gradu- 
ally by corresponding acts of love, accom- 
panied with prayer and mortification, which 
purify the heart of all foreign loves and at- 
tachments, little by little, by means of great 
fidelity, earnestness, and unreservedness, 
and by means of the holocaust which makes 
a soul ''all for God," brings it in due time to 
the habitual union with Him. And this is 
ever considered to be the end of life, both 
active and contemplative here below — the 
habitual union of the soul with God, in all its 
powers. Thus, the memory is united with 
Him by ever remembering His presence, 
love, and working, in nature, grace, and 
glory. The intellect is united with Him, in 
knowing Him more and more : and the will, 
in loving Him more and more: and all the 
other powers, senses, and members, in serv- 
ing Him (each one in his own state and 
office) and all according to His love, will, 
and movement, God and the soul ever living, 
loving, and working in mutual union to- 
gether. ''All these things one and the same 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 25 

Spirit worketh, dividing to every one accord- 
ing as He will/'^ 

Let us never forget the teachings of the 
Divine Master in the parable of the sower. 
It is a compendium of all we want. Let us 
ponder its parallels between nature and 
grace. Let us return to it again and again, 
measuring ourselves severely, and testing 
our dispositions by the different kinds of 
ground into which the seed falls. Nothing 
short of the good ground will do. See how 
well the gardener cultivates it. And we must 
cultivate our souls — and keep up the work 
through life. Our Lord is always ready to 
give us of His best. But the law is there. 
The dispositions of the ground are every- 
thing for the seed — and the dispositions of 
our souls are everything for the grace of 
God, and its workings within us. It has 
been well said, and let us say it here, and 
often repeat it — ^^God is ever ready; the 
question is, are we ready ?^' 



'I Cor. xii. II. 



II 

jEarnestness in Spftttual Xite 

TZJf HY should we not be as earnest in 
spiritual things as the children of the 
world are in all their daily undertakings? 
Truly they serve as so many object-lessons 
to us. From early years they show keen in- 
terest, energy, and devotion in acquiring the 
knowledge of language, music, painting, 
geography, and the rest. It is the same in 
sports, games, and travels. They give them- 
selves, too, with great relish to the society of 
kind friends and worldly folk. And later on 
they embark in the business of life, and their 
time, thoughts, and affections are fully en- 
gaged in the pursuits of their worldly occu- 
pations. 

Why we can not and do not give ourselves 
to the highest, best, and most soul-satisfying 
of all works, with something of the like en- 
thusiasm, seeing that nothing is greater, bet- 
ter, more ennobling and enjoying than prog- 
ress in divine knowledge and love, and union 
with God, this is indeed a question to which 
the only answer seems to be that nature and 

26 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 27 

not grace is in the ascendency within us. 
Thus it is that Hfe and time go by. Nature 
strengthens with exercise, and grace wanes 
from disuse. A great soul has told us that 
'' the first disposition toward finding the 
Truth is to be in earnest in seeking it.'^^ 
How true it is ! So many who are outside the 
fold think about religious truths, and feel 
the claims of the Church on their allegiance, 
but their old associations and habits, their 
friends, and position in the world, the conse- 
quences of the step, the losses inevitably fol- 
lowing, the pain of the wrench, all conspire 
together to turn their thoughts away from 
the simple question of Truth, and keep them 
where they are. Thus, for want of earnest- 
ness in seeking, they find not the priceless 
treasure of faith. So it is in the things of 
grace and spirituality. Many think, read, 
and speak about them from time to time; 
they approve and applaud them in others; 
they desire them in an abstract sort of way, 
or, as theology would say, in sensn diviso; 
but they are not prepared for the whole 
work. As Our Lord says in the Gospel, they 
begin the tower, without considering the cost 
of finishing it. Or they desire the goodly 
pearl without giving all to gain it. Thus 

* Newman. 



28 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

their desires are inefficacious. Nor do they 
proceed from desire to determination. Nor 
do they make the work of perfection the one 
great project of life. Hence it clearly fol- 
lows that their means are not in proportion 
to the end. All this shows the want of ear- 
nestness in the work. They have neither the 
wisdom nor the will in their spiritual work 
that the children of the world have in the 
commonest business of life. Worldly folk 
go straight to their aim, as the archer goes 
straight to the target. They know their pur- 
pose, and they make directly for it. If the 
work be arduous, they are not found to be 
either weak-minded or indolent. Desires of 
success and gain quickly spur them on. Will- 
power makes them at once determined and 
courageous. Where would all our builders, 
farmers, soldiers, lawyers, nurses, railway 
men be without these conditions? 

Why are not the like conditions forth- 
coming in the greatest of all undertakings, 
that of getting to union with God by the life 
of perfect charity? Many causes are an- 
swerable for such effects. The root-cause 
will be want of practical faith. Many souls 
believe the truths of faith, without living up 
to their belief, being "drawn away and al- 
lured'' by the pleasures of the senses. Thus 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 29 

their natural man masters them. They en- 
gage themselves with what they see, and 
hear, and feel, and have not the courage to 
resist and mortify their natural liking for 
pleasure. This is not living up practically 
to their faith. Faith teaches them much 
more than all this. They do not seem to have 
learnt how to rise from nature up to Nature's 
God. Faith is belief in God, the Creator of 
all things visible and invisible. Its first dic- 
tate is to rise from the creature to the Cre- 
ator. Is it not natural and easy to do this ? 
We enjoy the hills, and vales, and trees, and 
fields, and running waters, and flowers, and 
fruits, and the glowing sun, and the blue 
sky, and the bright air, and dear friends, and 
the use of all our faculties, senses, and mem- 
bers. Alas ! Why are we smothered up in 
all these things, and intoxicated with the 
pleasure which they bring, and led off and 
away from the dear Source of them all, in- 
stead of leaving them frequently and readily, 
wisely and willingly, rising upwards from 
effect to cause; seeing that they are not of 
themselves good, but little emanations of 
God's goodness, and that they all call out to 
us with ten thousand tongues, to rise to Him 
who made them, to love Him, choose Him, 
prefer Him to all, give ourselves to Him, and 



30 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

set ourselves straightly in order to our end 
of uniting with Him by perfect love here and 
hereafter? If we "know these things, we 
shall be blessed if we do them/'^ Why are 
we hearers, and not doers of the Word?^ 
We ought to ''walk by faith, and not by 
sight/'^ Yet how many do the reverse. 
They walk by sight, not by faith. They en- 
gage themselves all day long with the pleas- 
ures of sense and self-will. They go from 
one thing to another. Propensities indulged 
soon strengthen into settled habits. Their 
taste is for the things they see and feel. 
Love of silence, meditation, and detachment 
have little or no place in their heart. How 
can they go on to spiritual things when they 
do not desire to go on ? The want of desire 
to advance in the way of God is ''the ill of 
all ills." 

It is abundantly clear that such as these 
do not live up to their faith, do not act ac- 
cording to it, but act frequently against it. 
And acts make habits. Faith is a habit; 
and it may be strong or weak. If used, it 
strengthens; if neglected, it weakens. We 
ought to walk by faith, constantly and ha- 
bitually: and it leads us on de virtute in 
virtutem. If we do not live on the higher 

^John xiii. 17. ^j^mes i. 22. ^2 Cor. v. 7. 



'EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 31 

plane, we live on the lower. If we do not 
walk the higher way of faith, we walk the 
lower way of sight, feeling, and natural ac- 
tivity. It is but saying in other words that 
we live according to nature, not according to 
grace; according to man, not according to 
God. St. Paul, as we know, is very uncom- 
promising about this. He tells us to put off 
the old man, and put on the new man. He 
says that if we live according to the flesh, we 
shall die : but that if by the Spirit we mortify 
the deeds of the flesh, we shall live.^ All this 
implies the life of faith. The wisdom of the 
world does not teach it. It is the life of the 
Spirit, not of the flesh. We have grace, and 
the Spirit of God within us, in order that we 
may live by them, and walk according to 
them. "If we live in the Spirit, let us walk 
in the Spirit."^ "Mind the things that are 
above, not the things that are below."^ All 
this is the life of faith. For want of it the 
natural man goes apace. And how in such 
condition will the spiritual man keep up an 
earnest progress? Let us not blink the 
question. 

A second explanation of so much heedless- 
ness in spiritual life and work may be found 
in the solemn words of St. Augustine, Nemo 

*Rom. viii. 13. ^Gal. v. 25. ^Col. iii. 2. 



32 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

venit nisi tractus} Such souls admit that 
they have no special drawing to spirituality. 
And indeed Our Lord's words are very di- 
rect: ''No man can come to Me except the 
Father draw him."^ We have the law both 
in nature and in grace, Dens est agens prin- 
cipale. As God is the Author and Finisher of 
our faith, so also He begins, continues, and 
finishes the work of our perfection. He is 
ever the First Cause, we, secondary causes, 
working under Him and with Him. He is 
the Alpha and Omega : He the Creator, and 
we His creatures ; and to be a creature is to 
be nothing before the Creator. ''None is good 
but God alone."^ We are not good, but the 
recipients of His goodness. Thus Our Lord 
says, "You have not chosen Me, but I have 
chosen you.''^ 

All this is elementary Christianity. 
Therefore God chooses a soul, draws it on- 
wards to Himself, and works with the soul 
itself, little by little, the work of its perfec- 
tion. But some one will say, "I am not 
drawn.'' Ah, no — all are drawn, in differ- 
ent ways and degrees. It is a matter of fol- 
lowing up consistently and co-operating 
with God's lights and graces from the first. 

^Tract. 26 in Joan. ^Luke xviii. 19. 

'Joan. vi. 44. "^John xv. 16. 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 33 

''God made man from the beginning, and left 
him in the hand of his own counsel/'^ There- 
fore if a soul turn from its first light and 
grace, it soon turns from others in succes- 
sion, and from repetition of act, habits grad- 
ually form, and every one "turns aside into 
his own way." Thus it is that man himself 
interferes with the drawings of the good 
spirit, and then complains that he is not 
drawn. Another says, ''But if we are drawn, 
we go unwillingly." "Think not," says 
St. Augustine, "that you are drawn unwill- 
ingly ; for a soul is drawn by love. Neither 
ask how you go voluntarily if you are 
drawn: you are drawn even by pleasure." 
So it is in nature, so it is in grace. "Thus 
man is drawn to Christ, by the pleasure of 
truth, the pleasure of happiness, the pleasure 
of justice, the pleasure of future life. Da 
amantem, et sentit quod dicoJ'^ Number- 
less are the attractions which a soul finds to 
divine things, that gives itself in the ordi- 
nary way to prayer — assistance at Mass, the 
sacraments, and daily meditation. The 
kingdom of God is within us ; and God never 
gives up His immediate jurisdiction over the 
souls of men. But there it is — the light and 
the grace come — a word, a text, a thought, 

^Ecclus. XV. 14. ''St. Aug. Tract. 26 in Joan. 



34 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

a principle strikes the mind — Will the soul 
dwell upon it calmly and sweetly? Will it 
take it directly to itself? Will it let the im- 
pression sink in ? Will the heart work with 
the mind? So often the heart follows not 
the light of the mind. Dixi, semper hi errant 
corde. The heart zvill go wandering after its 
trifling affections. And God's grace wants 
the combined action of heart with mind. It 
is strange that the most potent principles that 
strike straight to the clearest laws at once of 
nature and grace, and if but taken up and 
acted upon consistently, would be the refor- 
mation of a soul, are yet allowed somehow 
to come and go. They flutter in the mind, 
when read or listened to, for a few moments, 
like fifty other unimportant things of detail 
might. Then they go forever. The soul 
felt them, but was not drawn. The light 
came, and went. Is it not all a want of 
earnestness in spiritual work? Let us take 
as an instance the principle of principles, in 
nature and grace: Ante omnia consider- 
andus est finis; et secundum finem dirigen- 
dus est cursus. O vastly momentous and 
eternal truth! If but grasped, and loved, 
and earnestly taken up, and acted upon, it 
brings a soul recta via ad Deum. Before all 
other concerns of life, I must look at the 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 35 

main end of life. I must be as wise in grace 
as I am in nature. This end is union with 
God by means of perfect love; love being the 
bond of union in grace and glory, as it is in 
nature. This being my end, I have lo direct 
the whole course of my life hereto. Am I 
prepared for this? If not, why not? The 
principle stands. It is indubitable, indis- 
putable, unalterable. Take it up, and it will 
reform your soul. Viewing the end clearly, 
you will at once see what your means are to 
be. To get to the union of perfect love, you 
will have to think of God, look to Him, 
choose Him, give yourself to Him, and work 
at once from love to Him, in view of forming 
love's habit within you. All this means 
mental prayer. Therefore this is a primary 
means to the end. Further, to be attached 
to the Divine All you will have to be de- 
tached from your little all. And this is 
mortification — another primary means to 
the end. Therefore, to accomplish the work 
you must be a man of the love of God above 
all things, a man of prayer, and a man of 
mortification. Are you bent upon all this — 
that is, are you bent on going the way to 
the end ? What sort of head and heart will 
you have if you adopt the great principle 
in the common business of life, because you 



36 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

know life would be a failure if you did other- 
wise, and yet you adopt it not in the work of 
all works, that of attaining the ultimate end 
of all life here below, although you know 
that if you neglect it your everlasting life 
and happiness will go? We have eyes, and 
see not. And exactly the same line of 
thought may be applied to those so many 
who hear so often the Word of God, who 
read so many holy and helpful books, and 
yet somehow they become not doers of the 
word. All these holy readings are lights, 
graces, and drawings of the good Spirit. But 
souls yield not themselves to the effluence of 
the divine light and love. They are not lov- 
ing and courageous souls, as all have to be 
if the work is to be done. For instance. Our 
Lord's words in the Gospel, ''If any man 
love Me, My Father will love him: and we 
will come to him, and make our abode with 
him; and I will manifest Myself to him."^ 
Is not this light, grace, and drawing to the 
soul? But how many hear it again and 
again, yet give themselves not to the real 
work of it ? They do not delight themselves 
with its inmost meaning. They do not put 
themselves into sweet relation with our 
blessed Lord. The divine words remain in 

^John xiv. 2^, 21. 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 37 

the letter; they do not pass into real fact 
within our souls. Our Lord will not con- 
strain any one against his will, because He 
wants the homage of the heart. What we 
do for Him must be voluntarily done and 
lovingly done. Thus, if the heart is not 
given to God, Our Lord's drawing will not be 
efficacious, because He draws by love. Go 
to Him, choose Him, love Him, and declare 
your love by keeping His word; for so He 
says : "If any man love Me, he will keep My 
word."^ "Blessed are they who hear the 
Word of God and keep it."^ How many 
there are who hear divine and spiritual 
things, believe them, talk of them, approve 
them, and yet do them not. "He that hear- 
eth My words and doth them is like to a man 
building on a rock. But he that heareth and 
doth not is like to a foolish man building on 
the sand.''^ All this again bespeaks the want 
of earnestness in spiritual life and work. 

And so it is in countless texts of Holy Writ. 
They sound upon our souls. They speak 
the Word of God directly to us. But so far 
it is the mind only that is working. We 
think, listen, and consider. Do we will to 
go on ? Is our heart in the work of our spir- 
itual advancement? Our Lord draws us by 

*John xiv. 23. ^Luke xi. 28. ^Matt. vii. 24, 26. 



38 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

our love. If we love not we are not drawn. 
When, then, St. Paul says, 'Walk in the 
spirit,''^ do we love to walk according to the 
good Spirit and to mortify the deeds of the 
flesh ? Is our heart in the work of our spir- 
itual reformation and perfection? When he 
says, "Mind the things that are above, not 
the things that are on the earth,''^ do we in 
right earnest give our thoughts and affec- 
tions, and love to give them, to the things 
of God, to the great principles of spiritual 
life, to the presence of God in His wonderful 
works, to Our Lord's hidden sacramental 
presence, the glories of our blessed Lady, 
the angels and the saints, and all this by the 
real preference of the heart and the renunci- 
ation of perishable love? The Apostle bids 
us attend to the higher by renouncing the 
lower. Have we the work well in hand — 
seriously, earnestly in hand? 

Then the ever-to-be-remembered chapter 
on charity — how that with all the grandest 
externals of life, without the right spirit 
within, we are as ''a sounding brass and 
tinkling cymbal.''^ Oh, the power of this 
apostolic sentence! Again and again it 
strikes upon our ears. Does it sink within? 
Or is it as the good seed falling on the way- 

^Gal. V. i6. ^Col iii. 2. h Cor. xiii. i. 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 39 

side, on the hard, rocky ground, or among 
the thorns ? Alas ! it ought to strike straight 
to the inmost core of our hearts and engage 
them at once for God alone, His love, His 
will. His service, and all our other loves 
should be set in subordination to Him. No 
other passage from the apostolic and 
patristic writings can compare with this, for 
declaring the all-sufficiency of divine charity 
as the inner life of the soul and the total in- 
sufficiency of all the rest apart from it. If 
we were in right earnest we should desire 
at once to commence the solid construction 
of our spiritual scheme upon the basis of this 
inspired teaching. It is a matter of will and 
heart working under grace and love. Or, 
briefly, God and man in the life of mutual 
love, this love gradually forming into an 
operative habit, governing all the works of 
life. 

But nothing can be done without desire, 
determination, and practice. Is it not so in 
the common, ordinary round of things? 
People do not become artists, musicians, 
nurses, or actresses without desires and reso- 
lutions to do the things. It is futile to expect 
to do anything if we do not want to do it 
and if we do not resolve to do it. Why are 
people given so much to smoking and sport- 



40 EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 

ing? Clearly because they desire and deter- 
mine to do so. If they did not want the 
things they would not do them. This, there- 
fore, may be considered as the finishing 
cause of the eflfects we are now considering 
— want of real desire and determination to 
use the means that w^ill secure the end. The 
life of perfect love between God and the soul, 
formed into an habitual working habit, can 
never be accomplished without the assiduous 
practice of mental prayer and mortification. 
Hoc est via, mnhulate in ea} These are the 
necessary means to perfect love. Do we 
want to be men of prayer and men of morti- 
fication, and are we determined to be so? 
This will mean detachment from lesser 
things. 

It must be so. Plato ^ thoii reasonest well. 

Both stand or fall together. Without 
well-developed mental prayer and inner mor- 
tification there is no perfect love. There- 
fore, if we want the one we must want the 
other. We must at once desire and resolve 
to seek our way to God by giving ourselves, 
and this with real heart (as though without 
heart we could go to God), to devoted mental 
prayer, in which we have to progress right 
well, and this combined with the mortifica- 

*IS. XXX. 21. 



EARNESTNESS IN SPIRITUAL LIFE 41 

tion of our self-love, by detaching the heart 
from lesser affections. And as the months 
and years go by, our prayer and mortifica- 
tion have to be well maintained. And as we 
advance in them we advance in love. And 
we must will to go on in all together, and 
desire to go on, and determine to go on, and 
go on. 

Thus it is that we succeed in spiritual 
things exactly as we do in natural things. 
Nor can anything be done, great or small, in 
nature or grace, were it only turning the 
head, without desiring to do the thing, deter- 
mining to do it, and doing it. 



Ill 

f mpe&fments to proflress 

/^NCE in a dream two friends were speak- 
ing together on spiritual things, and one 
offered to read an extract which she knew 
would please the spiritual Father. He in- 
tently listening, she read as follows : *^If you 
will progress in a spiritual way, you must 
leave your hold of a thousand tons/' 

The Father thought it very striking; but 
he saw at once it was putting an old truth in 
a new way: and after waking he remem- 
bered the saying, non nova, sed nove. 

Truly, in the natural order there is no 
getting on with plain impediments to prog- 
ress. Fancy trying to walk with huge 
weights chaining the feet ! Or to see the way 
in darkness without a light ! Or to ascend a 
mountain in a sick and weakly condition ! No 
reasoning is needed in cases of sheer incom- 
patibility. Intuition serves us all alike. It 
tells us at once that impossibilities are out 
of the question. 

Parallels between nature and grace run 
very closely. A spiritual life means the 

42 



IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 43 

sweet and willing subjection of man's spirit 
to the spirit of God, by the inner life of 
mutual love between the soul and God, 
formed as a habit disposed to its acts. But 
man has a body of flesh about him, the allure- 
ments of the world pressing around him, evil 
spirits in league against him, and all this in 
conjunction with his own unreformed and 
active human spirit. Considering, too, the 
multiplied repetition of these workings 
formed into habits, that become the spring 
of constant action, breeding many ''perverse 
habitudes," and we see at once what abound- 
ing impediments to spiritual life and progress 
are likely to be found seated and settled in 
the soul. The all-wise providence of God 
acts by law, as in nature, so in grace. And 
in the grant of God's best and perfect gifts 
the law is to have impediments removed be- 
fore the grace is given. Divine faith is a 
gift. And we may wonder sometimes why 
some obtain it and others not. The explana- 
tion is simple. While earnest souls are de- 
termined to give all for the pearl of great 
price, following up their first, second, and 
succeeding lights till coming to perfect day, 
others seem not to wish to be persuaded — the 
costs are great, the wrench tremendous, the 
sacrifices vast. Alas ! they have the light to 



44 IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 

see, but not the courage to do. The intellect 
and will are thus at variance; and faith is 
of the will as well as of the mind. Thus the 
attachments of the heart hold back the spirit 
from following the divine light. Here are 
the impediments to faith. No man cometh 
to Our Lord except the Father draw him. 
But the soul is not drawn because it is held. 
To be held and to be drawn are incompati- 
bilities. A soul is drawn by love; and here 
it loves the things that hold it — they draw it 
and keep it strongly tied. The soul can not 
be drawn on and held back together. Here 
we see impediments to the gift of faith. 

Coming now to the work of a spiritual life, 
we know that it is all between God and the 
soul. God loves His creatures with an ever- 
lasting love. He knows that He alone is all 
their life, light, love, and happiness, and that 
the soul of man is the kingdom of God, and 
His ^'homeliest home" on earth. Thus it is 
in Him we ''live, move, and have our being.'' 
How He delights to be with the children of 
men, and how He pursues our souls, sur- 
rounding us with His goods and gifts in 
nature, grace, and glory, and more than all 
giving us Himself ! Set upon gaining us. He 
comes to our nature in His incarnation as the 
model and the perfect man, in all the stages 



IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 45 

of our mortal life, that we may learn to live 
with Him and according to Him, then ex- 
tends His presence by love's wondrous in- 
ventions, coming to us closer still, and one by 
one, in His sacrificial and sacramental life, 
our blessed Lady, all the angelic choirs, and 
the saints and spirits of the just made per- 
fect are in union with us all; and we begin 
here the life of love with God and them that 
is to be continued forever hereafter. But as 
we look at them, one and all, they are wholly 
pure and perfect. The spirit of God gov- 
erns them wholly and fully without the 
smallest impediment within them. What a 
delightful object-lesson is this, to see the 
divine life so radiant within them, to see 
them thus filled with divine light, love, and 
power, each according to his measure and 
merit, without the smallest or slightest im- 
pediment anywhere. 

Then when we bring ourselves into their 
sweet association and look into our imperfect 
souls, and lives, and workings, alas! what 
awful impediments to God's reign and gov- 
ernance within us do we find ! In the mar- 
velous workings of nature God is supreme, 
''reaching from end to end mightily, and 
ordering all things sweetly,"^ but not so in 

*Wis. viii. I. 



46 IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 

His realm of grace! Must it be said that 
man resists his God when sun, moon, and 
stars are wholly obedient to Him? How 
sad! the human spirit resists the divine, 
while all the flowers and fruits are in sweet 
submission ! Then look at our various pow- 
ers — the intellect, made for divine knowl- 
edge, that might so open to heavenly science, 
spends away its vitality on vain and gross 
activities. All these are darkening to the 
mind, ever hindering the shinings of the 
divine light within us. Well might we train 
ourselves to the cultivation of spiritual and 
divine things, if we but give the same atten- 
tion and interest to them that the common 
run give to music, poetry, and fiction. How 
eagerly they go to the ''cheap toys of time's 
short day'' ! They run quicker to death than 
we do to life. On and on the mind will go. 
It will think on something — will feed itself 
with reading. But each is at the bidding of his 
own counsel. If we will, we may go to divine 
as well as human things. The Church has a 
delightful spiritual literature. To know it is 
to love it. But how can it be loved if it be 
not known? Yet somehow souls and con- 
secrated souls will not give themselves ear- 
nestly and heartily to the practical cultiva- 
tion of spiritual science and work, albeit that 



IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 47 

nothing is so soul-satisfying as this. They 
follow so much the likings of nature, and 
thus habits of self-indulgence form, and 
higher things are shut out by lower. And 
thus it follows that lower things are impedi- 
ments to higher. The intellect wants train- 
ing, like all the other powers. It is cease- 
lessly active — and its activity is well com- 
pared to the movement of a mill, ever grind- 
ing something. But see what you put into 
the mill. Let it work at corn, not chaff. So 
see what goes into the intellectual mill. Our 
powers are not made for play. The intellect 
is made for the knowledge of God and things 
appertaining to His love and service. What 
a thousand pities to load it with impediments 
to all this! 

The sun shines not in, if the windows are 
shut. 

What is to be said for the heart and its 
affections? Of course, all along the line of 
life they are tending to love. We know they 
have been made for the love of God and the 
things of His divine will and service. They 
are equally active with the intellect, and zvill 
engage themselves with something. We are 
creatures of habit. What a pity not to think 
of this in time. Repetitions of the hearf s 



48 IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 

affection begin with the dawn of reason. 
Quickly, indeed, poor, weak, fallen human 
nature tends downward. Its love is at once 
caught up. Its likings and desires daily and 
hourly assert themselves. Holy Mother 
Church is indeed there ready with her helps. 
Her first lesson is to direct it to God by acts 
of faith, hope, and charity. Soon would the 
love of God grow with repetitions of act into 
habit and become a spring of fresh action 
were young souls trained to exercise it vol- 
untarily and earnestly day by day. But of 
course if higher habits are not insured, lower 
ones quickly get the entrance, and the lower 
become impediments to the higher. The 
memory is a wonderful power, and it seems 
strange that we do not train ourselves to re- 
member with its aid the infinitely great, good, 
and loving God, so present and so manifested 
to us in all His works around us. Our Lord 
God is forever remembering us, thinking of 
us, attending to us in all His works of nature, 
grace, and glory. Should we not love to 
think of Him in return ? But there it is — the 
memory is crowded with other things: and 
thus the impediments within this faculty are 
abounding. 

By the inexorable laws of nature, if we do 
not engage our greater powers with higher 



IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS 49 

things, lower inclinations, passions, and ten- 
dencies play upon the inferior powers of the 
imagination and senses, and these gathering 
strength by the use and liberty allowed them, 
the higher faculties for want of due discip- 
line and exercise suffer a diminution of 
strength, or even become corrupted by the 
lower influences ; as even the poet says : 

But ill for him who bettering not with time, 
Corrupts the strength of heaven-descended 

will, 
And ever weaker grows. 

Voluntary self -discipline is what is needed 
to escape these consequences. Yet souls have 
not the courage of their convictions. They 
see the better things and do the worse. They 
are "drawn aside, and allured.'' Why not 
''dare do all that may become a man,'* and 
all that may become a consecrated soul? 
Have we not professed to "put off the old 
man and put on the new man"? What is 
this but that we leave the lower things of 
nature and cleave to the higher things of 
grace? The lower are the impediments to 
the higher. Certain it is that God desires to 
possess our souls and rule our faculties. But 
He governs by law and order. The vessel 
has first to be cleansed, then only may it be 
filled. 



IV 
Xtbe IRfQbt Spirit Mitbin 

*y^ow true it is that after all our endeav- 
ours to provide for the external works of 
life, on which, indeed, we so laudably expend 
our time and energies, the main thing before 
God and heaven is the formation of the right 
spirit within. Much here will depend upon 
our remembrance of the twofold life within 
us, that of nature and that of grace. Nature 
has wonderful powers and activities: and 
they are well accommodated to life in the 
world. Then, as Newman reminds us, the 
Church is in the world and the world is in 
the Church. Thus it is that spirituals and 
temporals are closely and constantly inter- 
twined together, and well indeed in all the 
works of Holy Church may churchmen be 
upon their guard, fearing the taint of an in- 
fected world, seeing that to worldly activities 
they must oppose the activities of a strong 
human spirit. Yet as priests and conse- 
crated souls we want more than the mere 
human spirit, seeing that "'for Christ we are 
ambassadors, God, as it were, exhorting by 

50 



THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 51 

us/'^ and seeing that the life of grace is for 
action as well as that of nature; and, fur- 
ther, that grace is for the governance of 
nature and the spirit of God for the govern- 
ance of the human spirit. Thus have our 
lives to be put into design and order, in view- 
to ''unfulfilled possibilities." 

Owing to the twofold life of nature and 
grace, their corresponding loves become a 
dual principle within us. To the natural 
mind corresponds divine faith; and to the 
natural love corresponds divine love, called 
charity, both being infused theological vir- 
tues. Thus, as is often said, grace is grafted 
on nature. Now, as nature is so active, grace 
ought to be active, too ; and grace has to gov- 
ern nature. It is in the life of grace and at 
the point of divine charity that the spirit of 
God is in contact with man's soul. For as in 
human life friends are not united except by 
the bond of mutual love, so neither are the 
soul and God in friendship together, except 
by the life of mutual love in divine charity. 

However, acts beget habits: and habits 
will not serve us except they be sufficiently 
developed. Natural life and love have been 
long developed within us by long-continued 
exercise and repetition. But divine love as a 

'2 Cor. V. 20. 



52 THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 

principle has not been allowed nearly enough 
scope in our lives. Yet this it is of which 
we say so often, Spiritum rectum innova in 
visceribus meis, for which we implore: 
Spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me; 
and again, Spiritu principali confirma me; 
and again and again, Vent sancte spiritus. 
The right spirit within is the spirit of God 
governing us through the habit of charity — 
mediante hahitu caritatis. Thus St. Paul: 
'The charity of God is poured forth in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to 
us,"^ and St. John, Deus caritas est, et qui 
manet in caritate in Deo manet, et Deus in 
eo,^ Here is the mutual love between the 
soul and God, by which God dwells in us and 
we in Him : which love, in the nature of love, 
is at once the bond of union and the spring 
of action. This is the right spirit within. 
Here, in the habit of divine charity, God and 
the soul meet together, live together, and 
work together. This habit of charity has to 
grow, by constant use and action, into per- 
fect form within the soul, loving God above 
all, wholly and fully, and overflowing in love 
to our neighbour till it works as a perfect 
habit, promptly, easily, and sweetly. All this 
is the divine and perfect spirit within, bring- 

*Rom. V. 5. 3j JqJ^j^ ly j^ 



THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 53 

ing the soul of man wholly under the gov- 
ernance of the spirit of God. But it is not 
attained all at once. The habit grows little 
by little ; and the spirit of God gradually sub- 
dues the spirit of man to Himself: then 
makes him partaker of His own light, love, 
life, and happiness, and sharer of all His 
gifts and fruits. 

How impressively Our Lord teaches us 
in the Gospel of the need of looking to the 
interior, and how, if that is well attended to, 
the rest will follow: 'Tirst make clean the 
inside of the cup and dish, that the outside 
may become clean/'^ The words were ad- 
dressed to the scribes and pharisees, who 
attended so carefully to the externals of re- 
ligion; but they had not the right spirit 
within. In moral and spiritual things the 
inner soul moves us to the outer act. If the 
spirit within be right, it moves us to right 
acts; if it be wrong, it moves us to wrong 
acts. Hence the scholastic saying, operatio 
seqtiitur esse. The operations follow the 
being. If, therefore, a nature be right, pure, 
and loving, its outer works follow accord- 
ingly, and become right, pure, and loving. 
Thus Our Lord's words, spiritually applied, 
are exactly true — cleanse your interior spirit 

*Matt. xxiii. 26, 



54 THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 

by the life of faith and love and your exter- 
nal works will be those of faith and love also. 
It must ever be remembered that Our 
Lord God requires both the exterior and the 
interior homage of His creatures. We see 
it from the beginning. Abel offered of his 
firstlings and Cain of his fruits to the Lord. 
Here is their external homage. ^^The Lord 
had regard to Abel and his offerings. But to 
Cain and his offerings He had no regard."^ 
Why this difference? Abel had the right 
spirit within, but not so Cain. ''Man seeth 
the things that appear, but God regardeth 
the heart.''^ The outer works depend upon 
the inner spirit. Thus all the exactitude of 
the scribes and pharisees in the externals of 
their religion could not save them from the 
condemnation of Our Lord, because they had 
not the right spirit within. How perfect 
was the heart of Abraham; and so his ex- 
ternal homage was perfect. See him going 
forth from his country, his kindred, and his 
father's house at the word of the Lord, build- 
ing an altar to the Lord, and calling on His 
name. See his faith in believing without 
seeing or understanding. Then the com- 
mand from God, ''Walk before Me and be 
perfect." "And Abram fell flat on his 

^Gen. iv. 4. *i Kings xvi. 7. 



THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 55 

face/'^ See the perfection at once of his 
inward and outward homage as he prepares 
to sacrifice his son. He is the pattern of all 
true believers, of all who make their faith 
effective by their works, because they have 
the right spirit within. 

God's will for the externals of religion is 
nowhere more manifest than among His 
chosen people of old. 'They shall make Me 
a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of 
them. And the altar shall be sanctified by 
My glory. And the cloud covered the taber- 
nacle, and the glory of the Lord filled it."^ 
'These are the precepts and ceremonies and 
judgments which the Lord hath commanded. 
Hear, O Israel, and observe to do them. 
Love the Lord thy God, and observe His 
precepts and ceremonies and judgments and 
commandments at all times.''^ 

Josephus tells us how greatly astonished 
and affected the Queen of Sheba was when 
visiting Solomon and observing the splendour 
of the palace and the temple, noted the daily 
sacrifices offered to God, and the reverence 
of the priests and servers. Seeing it day 
by day, she was in the greatest admiration, 
and openly confessed how much it had im- 
pressed her. 

^Gen. xviL 1-3. *Ex. xxv. 29, 40. ^Deut. vi. and xL 



56 THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 

Later on we see how easily the people of 
God, in the midst of the many long-contin- 
ued outward ceremonies of religion, deteri- 
orated in that which God requires before all, 
neglecting the interior faith and love, which 
gives the true life and spirit to all the rest. 
Then the words of God change : and He who 
had prescribed so carefully and minutely the 
externals of His worship now blames the 
very observances He had ordained : and this 
because those that practised them with all 
exactness rested in the outward actions and 
neglected the inward purity of heart typified 
by them. ''Your Sabbaths and festivals I 
will not abide. My soul hateth your solemni- 
ties. I am weary of bearing them. When 
you multiply prayer I will not hear. Wash 
yourselves, and be clean. Cease to do per- 
versely. Learn to do well. And then come, 
saith the Lord."^ 

Thus it was that God protested to His 
chosen people, that although the externals of 
religion be in themselves so good, and ac- 
cording to the divine will and ordinance, yet 
will He despise and detest an exact perform- 
ance of them if there be not the right spirit 
within. 

And so it is in Christianity and Catholi- 

*Is. i. 13-18. 



THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 57 

cism: we must give to God the homage of 
our entire being, exterior and interior. The 
instinct of natural religion should lead us to 
praise, adore, and glorify the Creator of all 
in the wondrous works of His hand, around, 
above, and within us. How constantly the 
fervid psalmist invites us to this: ''How 
great are Thy works, O Lord. Thou hast 
made all things in wisdom : the whole earth 
is filled with Thy greatness."^ 'The Lord is 
great, and exceedingly to be praised. Praise 
and beauty are before Him; holiness and 
majesty in His sanctuary. Bring ye to the 
Lord glory and honour. Bring up sacrifices, 
and come into His courts. Let all the earth 
be moved at His presence."^ 

So, too, in the legacy of revelation, of 
which the Catholic Church is the divinely 
appointed trustee, we enjoy to the full all 
the beauty of the Church's outer worship. 
The old law was the shadow of the good 
things to come. If, then, "the ministration 
of death was glorious, how shall not the min- 
istration of the spirit be rather in glory? 
For if that which was done away was glori- 
ous, much more that which remaineth is in 
glory.''^ Thus, if the people of old had so 
many tokens of the divine presence in their 

*Ps. ciii. 24. 'Ex. XXV. 20, 40. ^2 Cor. iii. 7-1 1. 



58 THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 

midst, was it not all to show forth in the per- 
fect dispensation the reality of Our Lord's 
sacramental presence in His Church? If 
God willed the cherubim to ''spread forth 
their wings over the ark, and cover it/'^ and 
if Solomon made ''figures of cherubim'^ on 
the walls and doors of the temple,^ does it 
not all bespeak the presence of angels around 
Our Lord's own tabernacle? And if God 
prescribed so much outward beauty and cere- 
monial in the temple and sacrifices of the 
old law, is it not fitting that the hidden pres- 
ence of Our Lord and His angels and the 
oblation of the greatest act on earth in the 
sacrifice of the Mass should be surrounded 
with all the richness of outer homage, lit- 
urgy, and ceremonial that the Church or- 
dains ? 

Thus it is that all the year round, day and 
night, on thousands of altars and in thou- 
sands of sanctuaries, the perpetual homage 
of the Mass and the Divine Office rises from 
earth to heaven in the dififerent countries of 
the world: and if the loving God is con- 
stantly offended by the sins and ingratitude 
of His creatures, He is continually honoured 
and loved by the praises and prayers of His 
faithful children; and thus the evil of the 

*Ex. xxxvii. 9. ^3 Kings viii. 7. 



THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 59 

world is counterbalanced by the holiness of 
the Church. In this way it is that we train 
ourselves to love all the ordinances of Our 
Lord and His holy Church, in the seasons 
and festivals of the year that keep Him and 
His blessed Mother, the angels and the saints 
day by day constantly before us, feeling that 
all the Church tells us represents the divine 
will to be done, down to the smallest rubric, 
though it be but a simple genuflection or a 
drop of holy water. 

But let it never be forgotten — we must 
have the real thing. The body is for the soul, 
and the shell for the kernel, and the outside 
is for the inside. In all we do externally we 
must work from the inmost spirit of divine 
faith and love; faith illuminating the mind 
and love enkindling the heart. This it is that 
gives to God the homage of the interior, 
keeping the soul in due relation to Him as 
our ultimate end. He wants the heart more 
than all. We come from Him, belong to 
Him, return to Him. Love is preference, 
and God must ever be in the first place 
within us. 

How will it be if we enjoy the grandest 
externals of religion without the inner life 
of mutual love with God ? We know how it 



6o THE RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN 

will be. The Apostle tells us. We shall be 
as ''a sounding brass, and a tinkling cym- 
bal."^ And all for want of the right spirit 
within. 



*i Cor. xiii. I. 



V 
XTbe Spfrft of our State 

*j[ T IS according to the wisdom and the will 
of heaven that there should be many dif- 
ferent states of life here below, both in the 
natural and the spiritual order of things. 
Thus it is that the Divine Providence main- 
tains and carries on the governance of the 
world. And thus it is that we are made to 
depend not only on God, but on one another 
also. And this double dependence it is that 
leads us in the nature of the case to the 
knowledge, love, and service both of God and 
of man, this being the essential constitutive 
of Christian perfection. Falling in, as we 
should, with this divine scheme of things, we 
see at once the necessity of the different 
states of life, that all may be provided for in 
due time, order, and measure, in view to the 
course of the world and the well-being and 
progress of mankind, individually and col- 
lectively. 

As this life is the preparation for the next, 
it is evident that we have to provide both 
for the present and the future. And prop- 

6i 



62 THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 

erly, the course of our life here below ought 
to be ordered to our ultimate end. The 
different states are but accidental — the at- 
tainment of the ultimate end is essential. But 
God places and chooses each one according 
to the purpose of His will, for His own ends, 
and the varied needs of all around us. The 
world goes on by means of Matrimony; 
therefore men are called to be fathers and 
women to be mothers. Children are called 
into being to carry on the race. Nurses and 
teachers must be there, to protect and educate 
them. Schools must be organised for the 
many, and all the ins and outs of community 
life be provided for. Then each one has 
many and varied needs, and all must be con- 
sidered and attended to. Some, therefore, 
must provide food, others clothing, and all 
of so many sorts and kinds. The earth must 
be tilled, proper implements must be forged, 
and means of transit discovered. Thus 
different states of life naturally and neces- 
sarily form and multiply. Rulers of people, 
cities, and nations must be found; and this 
means authority and obedience. Roads must 
be laid, animals bred, trees, flowers, fruits, 
vegetables, seeds planted, trained, cultivated, 
and gathered in. Seas and oceans must be 
traversed, and every line of business duly 



THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 63 

marked out. All this, and so much more, 
tells us how different states of life clearly 
enter into the counsels of Divine Wisdom 
and Providence. 

Seeing that, as a fact, the world with all its 
orders and states of life in the various na- 
tions has gone on for so many centuries and 
thousands of years increasing and multiply- 
ing its resources, gathering more and more 
its vast experiences, evolving so many mar- 
velous inventions, enjoying a vast material 
prosperity, and handing on the benefits of 
its immense wealth, science, culture, and ex- 
perience to future generations — seeing all 
this, and so much more in connection with it 
all, it must be admitted that the world with 
all its wisdom finds its children well equipped 
for their manifold w^orks and full of interest 
and energy in carrying them out. Knowl- 
edge, love, will-power, memory, imagination, 
physical strength, determination of purpose, 
and perseverance are all brought to bear 
upon the duties of life. So it is. The world 
is wise. Things must be done. And accord- 
ing to the end, the course must be directed. 

In like manner provision is made by God 
for the spiritual needs of mankind. After 
all, what will it profit a man to gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul? The 



64 THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 

salvation of souls, therefore, is the main 
object of life here below. But alas ! we be- 
long to a fallen race, and the Apostle tells 
us that ''the whole world is seated in wicked- 
ness/'^ Strong, therefore, are the forces 
against which grace has to strive. God Him- 
self is ever the chief agent, as in nature, so 
in grace. But His plan in all is to use the 
agency of His creatures. Thus He becomes 
man in order to aid us. Then He wills to 
give His powers to His Church. ''All things 
whatsoever I have heard of My Father I have 
made known unto you."^ "Going, therefore, 
teach all nations.''^ In this way begins the 
vast organisation of the Catholic Church, 
the spiritual world within the temporal 
world. And again the necessity of all the 
states of life in the spiritual order for the 
efficiency of the Church's work on earth be- 
comes apparent. However, "the kingdom of 
heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed"; 
its beginnings being small, then growing, 
spreading, and developing in "the rolling 
majesty of time,'' till "their sound has gone 
forth into all the earth and their words unto 
the ends of the world." Thus St. Paul refers 
to the different states in the Church : "There 
are diversities of graces, but the same spirit. 

h John V. 19. ^John xv. 15. ^Matt. xxviii. 19. 



THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 65 

And there are diversities of ministries, but 
the same Lord. And there are diversities of 
operations, but the same God, who worketh 
all in all. For as the body is one, and hath 
many members, so also is Christ. . . . But 
God hath set the members, every one of them 
in the body, as it hath pleased Him; and if 
they were all one member, where would be 
the body? And God indeed hath set some 
in the Church — first apostles, secondly 
prophets, thirdly doctors, after that miracles, 
then the graces of healings, helps, govern- 
ments, kinds of tongues, interpretation of 
speeches.^'^ 

The Church's hierarchy circles around the 
Apostolic See, and thus the different orders 
of bishops, priests, deacons, and inferior 
ministers all find their place and work. The 
great religious orders, all tending together 
to the perfection of charity as their common 
end, by means of their vows and proper rules 
and the smaller congregations, brotherhoods, 
and sisterhoods, blending active and contem- 
plative element together, all supply many and 
varied states and works of life. Many are 
the grades of superiors and many more of 
subjects within all and each, and varied and 
manifold are the works to be done for God, 

*i Cor. xii. 4, 12, 28. 



66 THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 

for the Church, and for souls. Thus we see, 
as in the world, so in the Church, the need 
of different states, and with them their 
varied requirements, offices, and works. 
''But all these things one and the same spirit 
worketh, dividing to every one according as 
He will."' 

Seeing this as we ever should in the light 
of God and of divine faith, we believe that 
God Himself is ever the chief agent in the 
things both of nature and grace, Deus est 
agens principale, but that He wills man 
to work with Him. And thus we come 
to the life of mutual love between man and 
God, God loving us and we loving Him; 
He giving Himself to us and we giving 
ourselves to Him; He abiding with us and 
we with Him; He working with us and 
we working with Him. This brings us to the 
inner life and spirit of our state. Let it 
never be forgotten that the brightest ex- 
ternals without the right spirit within will 
bring us to the ''sounding brass and the 
tinkling cymbal.'' Externals, indeed, must 
be well attended to and well done, for "in 
God nothing is neglected."^ But the spirit 
of God and the spirit of love must be in them. 
Spiritus est qui vivificat.^ And here it is 

'i Cor. xii. II. ^Eccles. vii. 19. ^John vi, 64. 



THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 67 

that we find the spirit of all the different 
states of life, viz., the spirit of God govern- 
ing all, through the principle of His love, and 
the soul working with Him through the same 
principle. As the Apostle says : 'There are 
diversities of graces, but the same spirit : and 
there are diversities of operations, but the 
same God who worketh all in all." This is 
the happy, mutual life, and love, and work 
between the soul and God, implying love for 
the state in which God places us, love for its 
duties, love of doing them, and doing them 
well. This is the spirit that giveth life to all 
our outward forms and works. May God 
grant it to grow, strengthen, and be well 
established within us. It connotes the union 
of the spirit of God with the spirit of man 
by means of the theological virtue of charity. 
Thus the increated charity governs us 
through the habit of created charity, and 
God and the soul live and work together. 
''He must increase, but I must decrease.''^ 
Well, therefore, is the whole work of our 
perfection epitomised in the development of 
our charity. But operation follows life. 
With the life of love, therefore, between the 
soul and God must be the works of love. 
That is, the mutual love (called in one word 

*John iii. 30. 



68 THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 

caritas) moves each one to the proper works 
of his state and office : and by the fulfilment 
of these day by day and hour by hour the 
work of our perfection progresses. And the 
more frequently and perfectly the habit of 
charity is brought into act, the closer be- 
comes the soul's union with God and the 
quicker is its progress in spiritual per- 
fection. 

We ought to love to think of all these 
things. They appertain to the highest inter- 
ests of life here and hereafter. We should 
study to throw our lives into design. And 
we ought to be in constant progress to the 
end of perfect charity. And charity itself 
should energise in all the works of daily life. 
This it is that brings us little by little to the 
true spirit of our state, living and working 
with God therein, moving us to love the state 
in which He has placed us, to love its duties, 
to love doing them, and doing them well : all 
for His own great ends and the vast needs 
of souls. This points to the intentions we 
may and should have in all we do and suffer, 
in union with our blessed Lord, in heaven 
and on earth, in His sacramental and sacri- 
ficial life, in union with our blessed Lady 
and all the angels and saints and the whole 
living Church on earth. And much will the 



THE SPIRIT OF OUR STATE 69 

remembrance of these intentions spur us on 
to fervour in all we do and suffer. And 
vastly, indeed, will the cultivation and de- 
velopment of the inner spirit support and 
strengthen us in all our outer works, seeing 
that hereby the soul of man is in constant 
touch with the spirit of God. And in the 
time of trial and suffering the same sweet 
spirit will sweeten all. 

But, as already said again and again, the 
attainment of this will necessarily require 
a consistent practice of prayer and mortifi- 
cation: the one to lift the spirit upward to 
God, the other to subdue the inclinations of 
the natural man. Nor can there be anything 
like earnest progress to the end of perfect 
charity without the habitual use of these 
effectual and indispensable means thereto. 



VI 

XCbe XHnseen MorlD 

'^^Y THE light of faith we see the eternal 
and adorable Trinity intimately pres- 
ent in the entire creation, in all the works of 
nature, grace, and glory. And this, above 
all, is the glory of the world invisible. ''I 
fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord.''^ He 
is ''above all, and through all, and in us all.^'^ 
"Of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all 
things.''^ ''In Him we live, and move, and 
have our being.''^ The realising of this di- 
vine presence and working all around, above, 
and within us, and the subduing ourselves 
hereto, according to the divine plan and will, 
is the chief of all factors in the work of our 
spiritual formation and perfection. And of 
all devotions none is higher or better than 
devotion to the divine presence. It was em- 
inently the making of the saints. Let us 
observe, for our great advantage and help to 
spiritual progress, the presence of each of 
the three Persons of the Holy Trinity in the 

*Jer. xxiii. 24. ^Rom. xi. 36. 

*Eph. iv. 6. ^ Acts xvii. 28. 

70 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 71 

world around us. God is the God at once of 
nature and of grace, and thus the natural 
and spiritual orders are closely blended to- 
gether. All external works are attributable 
to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity 
together ; yet, in a certain way, according to 
our own imperfect modes of consideration, 
we easily associate the creation and conser- 
vation of the universe and all created things 
with the eternal Father, the whole scheme of 
redemption and the supernatural order with 
the divine Son, and the governance and sanc- 
tification of the Church with the Holy 
Ghost. This association is clearly observ- 
able in the Apostles' Creed. 

"The invisible things of God, from the 
creation of the world, are clearly seen, being 
understood by the things that are made : His 
eternal power also and divinity."^ Thus it 
is that we rise from nature unto nature's 
God. This realisation of God's presence, 
power, beauty, wisdom, love, in all the works 
of His hand, above, around, within us, it is 
that has made the saints such men of con- 
templation. And truly this contemplative 
spirit it is that gives such largeness, breadth, 
light, love, and joy to all the works of life. 
Who enjoys the beauties of nature more than 

^Rom. i. 20. 



7^ THE UNSEEN WORLD 

a soul that ever sees God's wisdom, beauty, 
and loveliness intimately in them all? And 
are they not all of them forever calling out 
with ten thousand tongues to us to think of 
Him and ever remember Him and love Him 
more than all, who made them and gives 
them to us so abundantly to enjoy? Thus 
Our Lord to St. Catherine of Siena : ^'Never 
suffer any of the things that My bounty has 
made to hinder thee from loving Me : for to 
this end have I made them, and given them 
to man, that he, seeing through them the 
riches of My goodness, may love Me in re- 
turn with a larger affection/'^ It would 
seem to be an easy and a natural thing for 
the creature thus to recognise the love of 
the Creator when we are perpetually seeing 
and enjoying all His good things around us. 
But the fact is that we forget the love of 
the Giver in the enjoyment of His gifts. We 
ought to train ourselves much more to the 
thought of the divine presence all around, 
above, and within us ; and as the beauties of 
divine wisdom, power, and love are perpet- 
ually showering down upon us every day, 
hour, and moment, they are ever declaring 
to us the unceasing thought and love of God 
for the creatures of His hand. Who would 

^Dialog. "Consummate perfection." 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 73 

not look with wonder and delight at the 
superb views of the natural world around us 
as we gaze from an eminence, let us say, cov- 
ered with flowering heather and gorse, and 
see the rising hills, one above another, all 
about us, and far beneath their crags and 
chasms, with their mazy shades and fretted 
foliage? Here is a rushing torrent, and 
soon a roaring cataract, and deep down the 
swift river cleaves her way between the 
parted heights, rich and smiling valleys 
stretching out in clustered plains toward the 
snow-clad mountain chain in the majesty of 
distance now set off, with aerial softness 
clad, and beautified with evening's purple 
beams. Erelong the sun sends a slant and 
mellow radiance, which begins to fall upon 
us. Soon comes still evening on. . . . 

Now glows the firmament 
With living sapphires. Hesperus, that leads 
The starry host, rides brightest, till the 

moon. 
Rising in clouded majesty, at length 
Apparent queen, unveils her peerless light 
And o'er the dark her silver mantle throws. 
"How great are Thy works, O Lord. 
Thou hast made all things in wisdom. The 
whole earth is filled with Thy riches."^ And 

*Ps. ciii. 24. 



74 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

as in great, so in little things, God is ever 
wonderful and magnificent. The flowers de- 
light us with their lovely forms and colours : 
and the fruits refresh us in all their sweet- 
ness and abundance. And how vast and 
wondrous is the multiplication of them all in 
billions and trillions, yet each leaf is a mar- 
vel of creative power and beauty, utterly be- 
yond the ability of all the world together. 
And as we contemplate all these large and 
loving communications of God's wisdom and 
power for the benefit and enjoyment of His 
creatures in the natural order are we not at 
once led on to see the like communications 
which He makes in the spiritual order to 
those that love Him ? Do not His graces fall 
upon us in rills and cataracts? But the dif- 
ference is. He finds impediments within the 
souls of men and in nature no impediments. 
Look at the abundance of these blossoms on 
our fruit trees. God works there so richly 
because nothing is found to resist Him. So 
would He work in our souls the marvels of 
His grace, light, and love were we only sub- 
dued in the like way to His divine opera- 
tions. But we go the way of our natural 
activities, and so perpetually put impedi- 
ments to the effluences of His divine light 
and love. Quia ubi vasa vacua non invenit^ 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 75 

stare oleum necesse est} ''The more en- 
tirely thou dost empty thy heart of that 
which is thine own, the more abundantly will 
I fill it with that which is Mine/'^ 

All this is to tell us how perpetually the 
loving God is thinking of His creatures, 
manifesting His presence, wisdom, love, 
power, and beauty to them, giving so richly, 
so largely, so lovingly of His gifts in the 
things of nature and grace, for our powers of 
soul and body, with their varied abilities of 
knowing, loving, working, and enjoying, are 
marvellous. And dear friends around us — 
let us say men and angels — are ever with 
us, declaring the glories of the Creator and 
sharing His gifts and graces with us. 

How infinitely beautiful are the workings 
of God and how adapted to the needs and 
desires of our nature! It is as though the 
Divine Loveliness were not contented with 
surrounding and penetrating us through and 
through with the beauties of nature and 
grace and their multiplication upon us every 
day, hour, and moment. He must come 
nearer and nearer to us. But His law must 
stand. He gives Himself, and yet He hides 
Himself. As it is in nature, so it is in grace. 

^St. Bern. Serm. 3 in Ascen Dom. 
'St. Cath. Sien Dial. Cons, perfect. 



76 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

As long as we are here below He will have us 
walk by faith and not by sight. Yet He 
contrives by mysterious means to give Him- 
self more closely and less hiddenly. And this 
is the special work of the eternal Son of 
God for the benefit of the world. ''God so 
loved the world as to give His only begotten 
Son.'^ Filius datus est nobis} The Son of 
God becomes the Son of man. But the law 
is there. He hides His divinity that we may 
still give Him the homage of our faith, but 
He shows His humanity. And at times, con- 
descending to our weakness, He sends forth 
the shinings of the divine through the 
human, as in the transfiguration, the resur- 
rection, and the ascension, and in the won- 
ders of many miracles during His life on 
earth and since. 

But the divine life and operations of the 
eternal Son pass from the few years of His 
visible dwelling on earth, saving the world 
from sin, teaching the nations through the 
apostles and their successors the truths of 
revelation, and giving the example of per- 
fect love and living — pass to the continua- 
tion, prolongation, and extension of His in- 
carnation in His still more hidden and won- 
drous sacrificial and sacramental life in the 

*Is. ix. 6. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 77 

Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, wherein, 
having already given Himself to our nature 
in the incarnation, He now gives Himself to 
us one by one in His eucharistic life, thus 
making the Church on earth truly the reflec- 
tion of the Church in heaven. For as in 
heaven God manifests Himself in all His 
glory, making the angels and saints sharers 
and partakers of His divine light, love, life, 
and happiness, so by His sacramental life He 
gives Himself to the Church throughout the 
world even now, and where the King is, 
there is the court. "Let all the angels of 
God adore Him.^'^ Tihi cherubim et sera- 
phim. And the saints in heaven, associated 
with the angels, and sharing with them the 
glories of the divine life, are represented 
here below by the multitude of faithful souls, 
ever surrounding Our Lord in His sacra- 
mental life. Thus in heaven the glories of 
the divine presence, with their everlasting 
effluences of light, love, and happiness, are 
reflected on earth, giving us perpetually 
through life the enjoyments at once of the 
world visible and invisible. And small won- 
der that St. Paul says : "We look not at the 
things that are seen, but at the things that 
are not seen: for the things which are seen 

»Heb. i. 6. 



78 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

are temporal, but the things which are not 
seen are eternal/'^ 

But giving so much of our attention and 
interest to things external and accidental, 
we form corresponding habits, and so very 
insufficiently realise the world unseen — Our 
Lord's hidden presence in the tabernacle, the 
Mass (the greatest act on earth), and Holy 
Communion, ever in our midst, all the world 
over, with the bright cherubim and seraphim 
in perpetual attendance on their King, yea, 
and associating themselves with the dear 
angels guardian and with us, more especially 
with loving souls — all hidden from our view, 
except we cultivate the inner spirit and so 
see with eyes of faith and love the glories of 
the life behind the veil. 

What a compendium of Our Lord's life 
on earth, hidden, active, suffering, and glori- 
fied, His sacramental life seems to be! Our 
Lord lived His long, hidden life at Nazareth, 
and continues it till the end of time in the 
Blessed Sacrament. Ought we not to love 
to be hidden, too? How sublime a lesson He 
gives us of the true greatness and value of 
life! "All the glory of the king's daughter 
is from within."^ Man seeth the things that 
appear, but God regardeth the heart."^ The 

*2 Cor. iv. i8. ^Ps. xliv. 14. ^i Kings xvi. 7. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 79 

inner habit of love divine, all disposed to its 
acts, uniting mind, heart, and all the powers 
with God, this is the great reality, energising 
in its own life and power, independently of 
externals. Why should we pine for acci- 
dents ? "All things are yours, and you are 
Christ's, and Christ is God's."' All the 
beauties of nature, grace, and glory are ours 
if we are ''all for God." As the 'Imitation" 
is so fond of saying, "Leave all and thou 
shalt find all."^ That is, give up all these 
lesser habits of mere natural, selfish activity 
and gratification and seize upon the divine 
habit of habits, love divine, all for God, over- 
flowing in love to others, according to God, 
not according to man, and all things are 
yours, through the pourings of wisdom, love, 
beauty, and power divine, ever descending 
and surrounding and penetrating us in eter- 
nal light, love, and happiness. Thus "the 
lover gives all for all, and has all in all."^ 

Little will a soul all settled thus in inner 
life and love with God heed as to how, when, 
and where it is employed externally. Pro- 
vided it lives with Him, and according to 
Him in the inner life of mutual love, all ex- 
ternals are but accidentals. The great habit 
of its life is ever energising within, with our 

4 Cor. iii. 22. iii. z^- ^Imit. iii. 5. 



8o THE UNSEEN WORLD 

dear Lord, in His hidden sacramental life 
all the world over — our dear Lady, the 
cherubim, seraphim, and all the angels and 
saints, and the whole living Church. Thus 
such a soul is semper agens — always work- 
ing for God's great ends and the vast needs 
of souls, in its union every day, hour, and 
moment, with the Church triumphant, suf- 
fering, and militant. And if it be left alone, 
it is never less alone than when alone, living 
in the full union of the life of love with God 
and with His creatures. This is indeed life 
in the unseen world — but how full ! how soul- 
satisfying! And well may such an one cry 
out with St. Augustine, 'The fill of all that 
is not God to me is want"^ 

There dare no flesh-fly 
rest on the pot's brink 
that boils on the fire.^ 

So when a soul is ever in the sweet life of 
love with God and the glories of its full union 
with Him and the heavenly court it admits 
not the hum of vain, fleshly, perishable 
things. 

Consider now the outpourings of the spirit 
of God upon the entire creation in nature, 

^Omnis copia quae Deus non est, egestas mihi est. Conf. 
xiii. 8. 
•From Hilton. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 8i 

grace, and glory. In the beginning it was 
the spirit of God that ''moved upon the face 
of the waters'^ ; and ''the spirit of the Lord 
hath filled the whole world/'^ Look at the 
immense universe around and above us ! O 
God, how great are Thy works ! Look at the 
astonishing size and power of our sun, 
860,000 miles in diameter, our earth whirling 
around it at the rate of 60,000 miles an hour ! 
And so of all the other planets — the nearer 
the sun, the quicker their movement. 

But all this vast system dwindles to a point 
before the immeasurably distant stars, a 
hundred billions of miles away ! O God, how 
great are Thy works ! How intimately pres- 
ent the spirit of God is in all His works! 
How we should train ourselves to remember 
Him, think of Him, contemplate Him, ad- 
mire Him, love Him, both in Himself and 
in all around, above and within us! 

^'The kingdom of God is within you.'' The 
soul of man is the kingdom of God, formed 
to His likeness, and His "homeliest home" 
on earth. It is as a mirror, reflecting the 
divine light and love within. See the count- 
less millions of souls on earth from begin- 
ning to end. Reason itself is a light divine, 
reflecting the Eternal Reason, showing us 

'Wis. i. 7. 



82 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

^^the invisible things of God by the things 
that are made/'^ moving us to love and serve 
the Creator and give Him the homage of 
natural religion. 

But over and above all this God makes 
His revelation to man, first by the patriarchs 
and prophets, then by His Son, who brought 
divine truth and grace into the world. And 
here revealed religion is added to natural 
religion — God being the God at once of na- 
ture and grace. Our Lord Himself gave the 
revelation of divine truth to His apostles: 
''All things whatsoever I have heard of My 
Father I have made known unto you."^ 
Then organising His Church for the trans- 
mission of truth and grace to nations and 
peoples till the end: for such is God's plan, 
to give His gifts to men through the agency 
of other creatures, as in nature, so in grace. 

But for such a divine work the Divine 
Spirit must be the governing and moving 
power. Hence the outpouring of the Holy 
Ghost on the day of Pentecost. And here we 
have the moving spirit of the unseen world 
in the midst of us, animating the whole 
Church, militant, suffering, and triumphant. 
Would that we might all be governed by the 
spirit of God ! But alas ! the human spirit is 

*Rom. i. 20. John xv. 15. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 83 

so strong within us ! and its activities get us 
into formed habits of thought and work, 
making abiding impediments to the govern- 
ance of the Divine Spirit within us. 

Hence the whole work of a spiritual life is 
the bringing of all our natural powers — 
memory, intellect, heart, will — and each one 
of our senses and members little by little 
under the governance of the spirit of God, 
that God alone may rule in His own king- 
dom, and all within us may be subject to 
Him. Happy the soul that is thus ''all for 
God." 

And with the Holy Ghost come the divine 
delights of His gifts and fruits, all ingrafted 
habits, connected together in the habit of 
habits,^ the ''charity of God poured forth in 
our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given 
to us."" 

Seeing that where the King is, there is 
the court, and seeing that God is every- 
where in nature, grace, and glory, it must 
be admitted that the holy angels are all 
around and about us, adding so much in 
God's own lovely designs to the beauties and 
glories of the world unseen. Does it not fol- 
low from all this that heaven is rather a 

^Connectuntur sibi invicem in caritate. St. Thorn, i. 2. 
Q. 68. A. 5. 
2Rom. V. S. 



84 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

divine state of life than a limited space lo- 
cated somewhere in creation? ''Do not I fill 
heaven and earth? saith the Lord.''^ Re- 
membering, too, Our Lord's wondrous sac- 
ramental life throughout the world — His life 
in the tabernacle, His world-wide oblation in 
the Holy Mass, His gift to our souls, one by 
one, of Himself, and the workings of His 
grace, and the effluences of His light and 
love around and within the souls of men in 
the Holy Communion — and the attendance 
on Him of the cherubim and seraphim 
wheresoever He is throughout the world — 
Tibi cherubim et seraphim — and seeing, too, 
the other great orders of the angelic choirs 
working under the ordinances of the divine 
wisdom, love, and power for the beauty, 
glory, benefit, and order of heavenly and 
earthly life together — and seeing that each 
individual soul has its own proper angel 
guardian to keep it in all its ways — oh, have 
we not truly around, above, and within us, 
even here below, the life of God and heaven, 
hidden from us now because ''we walk by 
faith and not by sight,''^ but seen in all its 
reality when we enter the world of spirits at 
the moment of death? Now there is a wall 
of partition around us by the bodies of our 

^Jer. xxiii. 24. *2 Cor. v. 7. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 85 

corruption, and we just see the things of 
sense with the eyes of the flesh. When death 
claims the body and the spirit passes the veil, 
the world which is now invisible breaks on 
us in all its majesty and glory. Are our 
souls already purified in the life of love with 
God, having attained the developed habit of 
habits by a consistent exercise of prayer and 
mortification, so that all impediments to the 
life of divine union have been already re- 
moved, then the separated spirit, freed from 
the trammels of the flesh, and bright with 
divine light and love, will find itself not in a 
region of dissimilitude, but similitude. It 
will be like to the spirits of the just made 
perfect; like to the dear angels; yea, like to 
God Himself. ''When He shall appear, we 
shall be like to Him, because we shall see 
Him as He is. And every one that hath this 
hope sanctifieth himself, as He also is holy.^'^ 
If, however, the work of perfection has not 
been finished the fellowship of the bright 
world of spirits will be at once uncongenial 
until the soul's purification be completed. 
Such as these fly with all alacrity to the 
cleansing process of purgatory, which is in- 
deed a realm of love wherein souls love God 
above all things, and that overflowing in love 

^l John iii. 2. 



86 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

to one another; neither will any sin enter 
there, but moment by moment, their purifica- 
tion proceeding, these souls will get nearer 
and nearer to the perfect union of love with 
God, until the divine habit of habits being 
fully perfected, they will enter all joyfully 
the region of similitude, being like to the 
saints and angels and Our Lord God Himself, 
and sharing with Him and them the divine 
light, love, life, and happiness in the ever- 
lasting realms of peace and joy, with all 
the prerogatives of spiritual and glorified 
nature. 

Coming back again to present things, and 
seeing the cherubim and seraphim in con- 
stant attendance on Our Lord in His sacra- 
mental and sacrificial life, the question 
occurs as to whether these higher choirs of 
heavenly spirits are at any time found min- 
istering to the souls of men in addition to 
their ordinary guardian angels. It may fully 
be admitted that such is indeed the case. 
"Are they not all ministering spirits sent to 
minister to them who shall receive the in- 
heritance of salvation?"^ St. Paul here im- 
plies that they all minister to us. The cheru- 
bim guarded the tree of life in paradise. The 
Prophet Isaias was touched by a seraph. 

»Heb. i. 14. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 87 

Tobias was befriended by the archangel. 
Daniel was touched by Gabriel, swiftly fly- 
ing, and fell to the ground. Ezechiel had a 
vision of cherubim. Quite probably, as souls 
get nearer to God by the union of love, and 
detaching themselves from sensual and 
earthly things, find their joy in communing 
with God and the world of spirits ; and train- 
ing themselves to spiritual habits, and realis- 
ing more and more the divine presence, and 
delighting in Our Lord's sacramental life, 
with His cherubim and seraphim, it is quite 
to be supposed, by the very laws of friend- 
ship, that the divine Lover of Souls will, as 
souls correspond to Him and leave all things 
to find Him, seek them and love them more 
and more, and delight in bringing His bright 
angelic attendants to see them. And how a 
dear angel loves to stand by a pure soul and 
reflect himself therein! And as the cheru- 
bim are spirits of divine light and seraphim 
spirits of divine love, we may well feel that 
as a soul, purifying itself from earthly dross, 
is brought more and more under the pour- 
ings of God's own light and love, the cheru- 
bim and seraphim will become the very min- 
istering spirits of the divine light and love 
to these souls, God thus using the agency of 
His own creatures in the realms of grace as 



88 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

He does in things of nature. And thus when 
pure souls receive, as they so often do, many 
a flash of divine Hght to know the things of 
God, while Gk)d Himself darts His light and 
truth upon them, as the Psalmist says, ''Send 
forth Thy light and Thy truth," yet, from 
the analogy of natural things, it will seem 
that frequently or ordinarily He gives His 
light to souls through His ministers of light. 
In this way it will be the appointed work of 
the dear cherubim to transmit the divine 
light to pure and loving souls, and how they 
will love to reflect themselves therein, and 
how abundantly will faithful souls receive 
the treasures of divine light through the 
shinings of these exalted spirits ! And so it 
will be in the communication of the divine 
love to loving souls. God, indeed, and the 
soul are ever united in the life of mutual love 
by the habit of divine charity. 'T in them 
and Thou in Me, that they may be made per- 
fect in one."^ And many a sweet touch of 
love in the inmost heart does He give to those 
who are all for Him. And Our Lord in His 
sacramental life comes to us one by one, 
teaching and training loving souls in the 
secret ways of divine love and strengthening 
the habit of habits within them during the 

John xvii. 23. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 89 

times of His abiding presence in His "home- 
liest home/' Yet with all this it seems en- 
tirely in accordance with God's own ap- 
pointed ways of working in grace and nature 
together that He should give to our souls the 
communications of His love through the 
spirits of love, the glowing seraphim, ever 
on fire with love divine, and so ready of their 
fulness to shed it on the souls of men as they 
approach nearer and nearer to the union of 
perfect love with God. How many lights, 
how many sweet touches of love faithful 
souls experience in their progress along the 
way to God ! The cherubim with their light 
and the seraphim with their love are so near 
to loving souls. And as goodness loves to 
communicate itself, it will be the delight of 
these sublime spirits to find among the sons 
of men souls sufficiently purified to receive 
in turn from the cherubim flashes of divine 
light, and from the seraphim touches of 
divine love. And thus it is that God works 
in the realms of grace as in those of nature, 
through the gifts and abilities of His own 
creatures, and doubtless it will be the same 
in the realms of everlasting glory. 

How mysterious and wonderful will be 
the lives of our angel guardians here on 
earth, although they are so glorious that the 



90 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

sight of one of them would soon send us flat 
upon the earth, as it did the Prophet Daniel. 
The countenance of the angel at Our Lord's 
sepulchre was as ''lightning, and his raiment 
as snow, and the guards were struck, and 
became as dead men/' But the glory of the 
world invisible is hidden from us now, owing 
to the body of flesh about the spirit. Thus 
the angels are all around us in their heaven, 
enjoying their divine contemplative life and 
their own ever blessed society, and having 
their active life among the souls of men. It 
might seem to be a trial to their exalted 
natures to be put to the humble service of 
poor fallen creatures here on earth. Prob- 
ably it was part of their first probation to 
foresee these arrangements of the divine 
wisdom and will. But to perfect and loving 
spirits it is full happiness to be wholly ab- 
sorbed in the divine love and will, the mode 
of their employment being but accidental. 
''Nothing tastes better to the highest angel 
than to do My will in all things: so that if 
he felt it were to My glory to come to earth 
and root up weeds and nettles, it would be 
for him of all things the most desirable to 
perform."^ 

The presence of vast numbers of evil spir- 

^Etern. Wisdom, c. 9. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 91 

its and of departed souls, good and bad, have 
to be reckoned as belonging to the unseen 
world around us. Doubtless the fallen 
angels, who are now devils, will carry their 
hell with them and at the same time be very 
busy in our midst, and have constant warfare 
with the holy angels, probably interfering 
with the elements and with human affairs 
much more than we imagine. Thus in the 
Book of Job we find Satan among the sons 
of God, saying that he has "gone round 
about the earth, and walked through it.''^ 
Then that he busied himself with Job^s pos- 
sessions, fire coming, and striking the sheep 
and the servants, and finally striking Job 
himself from head to foot. St. Peter warns 
us to be sober and watch, for that our ad- 
versary the devil goeth about like a roaring 
lion seeking whom he may devour.^ Nor can 
it be doubted that his immense crew of fallen 
spirits are ever moving and active with him, 
and probably as numerous as the good angels 
are. Thus St. Paul reminds us that ''our 
wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but 
against principalities and powers, against 
the rulers of the world of this darkness, 
against the spirits of wickedness in the high 
places."^ The old vision of a devil asleep on 

^Job ii. 2. 'i Pet. V. 8. ^Eph. vi. 12. 



92 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

a stile outside the city, and many others so 
active inside a monastery, tells us how, as 
the world goes, evil spirits have little extra 
to do, but that in fervent communities they 
are kept constantly alive, striving to draw 
away consecrated souls from the love and 
service of God. And how, going to the 
choir, a devil was seen putting many small 
things into a bag, which represented the 
many roving thoughts and careless pronun- 
ciation of words in the Divine Office, which 
were notable among the Religious. Prob- 
ably also evil spirits play closely and cleverly 
upon individual souls in their varied tem- 
peraments, natural inclinations, shortcom- 
ings, and perverse habitudes, and especially 
try to prevent their doing properly and well 
what they have to do, and ought to do, hie 
et nunc, in view of hindering the perfection 
of our ordinary actions. 

As to spirits of the departed, otherwise 
called ghosts, taking into account the his- 
tory of the world up to our own times, while 
making large allowance for imagination, 
brain conditions, trickery, and illusions, and 
other abnormal subjectivisms, the urgency 
of credible witnesses and visible facts is far 
too strong to deny the reality of such innum- 
erable cases of the appearance to others in 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 93 

this world of discarnated spirits, from the 
days when the spirit of Samuel returned to 
earth to converse with Saul, at the bidding 
of the woman of Endor/ If the rationale 
of such appearances be asked, may it not be 
a condescendence on the part of Providence 
in its dealings with the miseries of the multi- 
tude to keep alive to some extent in a ma- 
terial and unbelieving age at least some de- 
gree of assurance in the reality of the 
unseen world around us, and to urge them 
not only to live for the present, but to pre- 
pare for the future life? 

If we see things here below in the light 
of faith and eternity, if God Himself is all 
around and within us, if the angels are ever 
in our midst, and evil spirits also, considering 
that a hundred thousand souls are daily lay- 
ing aside their bodies and entering the spir- 
itual world, it seems likely that, departing 
this life, they would be quickly caught up by 
the angels or evil spirits, conducted to their 
judgment and retained discarnate here or 
elsewhere, as cases may be, for certain times 
or periods of their purification or punish- 
ment; then, maybe, passing elsewhere, some 
being permitted exceptionally, for certain 
reasons not seen by us, to show or declare by 

* Kings xxviii. 13-15. 



94 THE UNSEEN WORLD 

signs their presence as detained or wander- 
ing and unquiet spirits on earth, needing 
prayers or help or giving warnings, as the 
case may be, and at the same time discharg- 
ing temporal punishments or penalties due 
to past transgressions. 

We are all creatures of habit, and acts 
make habits. All along life's course we have 
been habituated to live and work in the world 
of reason and the senses, so that things of 
the spirit and of the unseen world have 
come to little development within us. Thus 
it is that people ignore them. Yet it is not 
fair or reasonable to ignore evidence. The 
idea of a ghost in a house induces fright to 
nearly all, because no habit of commerce 
with the spiritual world has been formed. 

Habitual interior union with God by the 
habit of mutual love, a practical faith in His 
divine presence around and within us, the 
inward governance of the spirit of God, the 
realisation of Our Lord's sacramental pres- 
ence on earth, and of the angelic spirits ever 
around Him and us — all this would dispose 
us to receive calmly the visit of any disem- 
bodied spirit that might present itself, asking 
in God's name who it might be, and what it 
might want, and giving it the benefit of 
prayer. 



THE UNSEEN WORLD 95 

Considering as life advances that we are 
getting nearer and nearer to the infinitely 
vast spiritual world, it would seem to be wise 
to train ourselves to the realisation of all the 
spiritual realities around us even here be- 
low, so as not to be living in a state of fixed 
repugnance to death, or finding ourselves in 
a region of utter and absolute dissimilitude 
when our spirits, removed from all nearest 
and dearest earthly attachments, pass beyond 
the veil. 

Thus it is that the Apostle admonishes us : 
''If you be risen with Christ, mind the things 
that are above, not the things that are upon 
the earth/'^ ''While we look not at the 
things which are seen, but at the things 
which are not seen ; for the things which are 
seen are temporal, but the things which are 
not seen are eternal/'^ 



*Col. iii. I. 2. "^2 Cor. iv. 18. 



VII 

Self^XTtaining an& discipline 

0F Socrates it is recorded that ''his self- 
control was absolute. He had so 
schooled himself to moderation that his 
scanty means satisfied all his wants. Great 
was his will-power in practising temperance 
and self-denial. No one, says Xenophon, 
ever knew of his saying or doing anything 
profane or unholy.''^ If all this may be done 
by the principles of nature, why can we not 
do the like by the principles of grace ? This 
is the unanswerable argument again. 

It is very noticeable, even among those 
who are consecrated to God in the religious 
and priestly life, that so many are found 
thinking, speaking, and acting just according 
to the inclinations of the natural man, with- 
out apparently the serious aim of schooling 
themselves to live and act consistently from 
high principle. They enter divine states of 
life and engage themselves, often too custom- 
ably, in the externals of their calling, taking 
or making abundant occasions and oppor- 

*Encyclop. Britannic. 

96 



SELF-TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE 97 

tunities of indulging natural pleasures and 
idle gratifications, and apparently not ad- 
verting to the frequent repetition of acts as 
forming corresponding habits, and how that 
the habits once formed become the spring of 
fresh action. Thus smoking, sporting, idle 
talking and visiting, with the habitual use 
of alcoholic stimulant, all get in the ascen- 
dency, acts making habits, and higher habits, 
from want of repetition of act, are weak 
and unformed — habits of solid study, of 
mental prayer and the spirit of prayer, which 
is love of its exercise; of mortification, and 
of the inner life of love with God, which is 
the habit of habits — these somehow are not 
in serious requisition, and yet if we look at 
things in the light of truth and faith, the 
formation of these highest habits of life 
ought to be the main business of our pro- 
fession as souls consecrated to the love and 
service of God. 

Doubtless many may will it all, but how 
to accomplish it they find not. The first 
question, however, is, do they really desire 
to accomplish it? The lack of desire is the 
ill of all ills. They may say they desire it; 
and certainly without such desire the thing 
will never be done. But let us put it philo- 
sophically. Do they desire it in sensu deviso 



98 SELF'TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE 

or in sensu com posit of i.e., do they desire it 
in a mere abstract sense, apart from all the 
ways and means to get to it? If so, they 
will never accomplish it Do they desire it 
practically and efficaciously, determined, like 
men of business, to use in right earnest the 
means to the end ? Then they take the first 
step to its accomplishment. And without 
such desire no one can do anything that has 
to be done, whatever it may be. The strange 
thing is, we understand right well these laws 
of nature in the common business of life, 
and we see them not, or deceive ourselves 
about them, in the work of all works, which 
is the love and service of God. 

What we all want, therefore, is self-train- 
ing and discipline in spiritual things, from 
the beginning of our career in the way of God. 

All Christians should live a spiritual life 
in the world. Is not the Divine Master Him- 
self ever in the midst of us in His sacra- 
mental life? Is not the Holy Ghost, our life- 
giver and sanctifier, ever within us ? ''Why 
call you Me Lord and Master, and do not 
the things that I say?"^ People consider 
well enough how they are to live, but they 
consider not what they are living for. Each 
one looks clearly to the object of his profes- 

^Luke vi. 46. 



SELF-TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE 99 

sion in life and is wise enough to use carefully 
and industriously and consistently the means 
to attain it. But the ultimate end of life 
itself is not kept steadily in view, although it 
is the main purpose of our existence. All 
the works we do ought to be ordered thereto. 
We have design for parts of life, not for the 
whole of it. Self-training and discipline are 
clearly needed. 

What can be the difficulty about them? 
Again and again let it be dinned into our 
ears — we have them for lesser things, why 
not for the greater? Does not a farmer 
train up his sons to the use of the plough, 
the care of the cattle, the tilling of the land, 
and the gathering of the crops? However 
much they may incline to roam about the 
country, they know the work must be done, 
and they school themselves to do it. Acts 
make habits, and they live practically under 
constant self-discipline, till it becomes sec- 
ond nature to them; and to neglect duty 
would be disgrace before all the folk 
around. Look at army and navy men and 
railway men for training and discipline, and 
observe that they are not only trained, but 
that they train themselves, and keep it up 
through life. When they not only do their 
works, but do them consistently well, and 



loo SELF-TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE 

further love to do them so, until all this be- 
comes a formed habit of life, then they have 
the spirit of their state ; their heart is in their 
life and work. How gratifying and satisfy- 
ing it is to see this ! All the world likes it. 
Surely it ought to be the same in the things 
of God. A main drawback, however, to this 
is the way so many have of proceeding in 
spiritual things in a desultory way instead 
of by some distinct method. 

Certainly we ought to be as earnest and 
exact in spiritual things as children of the 
world are in temporals. In every work to 
be done the law of right reason is to begin 
by looking at the end; for it is only by so 
doing that we can know how to proceed in 
the work. Thus in making a journey the 
first thing to know is where we are going — 
from that only we know the way to take. 
And so a builder first has a design of the 
finished edifice he is to raise, and from that 
knowledge he sees the materials he needs, 
and the forms and models and instruments 
that will be requisite in rearing the building. 
Now the spiritual work to be done for God 
and our own souls is infinitely more important 
and necessary to us than any of these earthly 
undertakings. Therefore why do we not pro- 
ceed in this work of all works according to the 
like laws of right reason and sound sense? 



SELF-TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE loi 

This would be to throw our life into 
design — looking in the first place at life's 
end, union with God by perfect love. From 
this view we see at once what the course of 
our life here below has to be. Impediments 
to this end must be avoided and means to 
gain it must be employed. Therefore sin 
must go and everything that leads us away 
from God must be sacrificed. Prayer and 
mortification, as indispensable means for de- 
veloping the life of love, must be exercised 
all through life, and the duties of our state, 
according to each one's calling, and the 
ordinary works of daily life must all be 
faithfully attended to. This is the way to 
school ourselves into training and discipline ; 
and why we can not and do not see it and 
attend to it, and carry it out, in the work of 
all works, for God and for ourselves, when 
we have the sense to do all this day by day 
in the common works of earthly business, is 
a question to which the only answer seems to 
be that we live according to nature and not 
according to grace — according to man, not 
according to God. 

When are we going to reform? When 
to be converted with the whole heart to 
God? Convertimini ad Me in toto corde 
vestro, ait Dominus omnipotens} 

*Joel ii. 12. 



VIII 

/IDutual %ovc 

**'Tf any one love Me, My Father will love 
him, and we will come to him and make 
our abode with him."^ 

Thus it is that our blessed Lord bespeaks 
to us the mutual love that should ever exist 
between Our Lord God and ourselves. ''I£ 
any one love Me, My Father will love him, 
and we will come to him/' Here, indeed, is 
mutual love between God and man. The 
theological virtue of charity implies and 
connotes this mutual love. It is not love on 
one side only. It is God loving us and we 
loving Him. Deus caritas est.^ He thinks 
of us and we think of Him. He gives Him- 
self to us and we give ourselves to Him. He 
abides in us and we in Him.^ He works with 
us and we work with Him. He enjoys Him- 
self with us and we enjoy ourselves with 
Him. 

If we look at kings and queens and the 
great ones of the world, they are as beings 
apart from ourselves. We may think of 

*John xiv. 23. ^John iv. 16. 

^Qui manet in caritate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo. Ibid. 

102 



MUTUAL LOVE 103 

them and admire them and see them at a 
distance. But they do not know us, nor love 
us, and so pass us by without a look of rec- 
ognition. Here we observe that there is no 
mutual love. If we come to friends of earth, 
their love is very limited and often change- 
able and uncertain: nor is it always very 
mutual. The best of creatures come and 
go. Human friendships often come to 
nought, or worse, and sometimes love 
changes into hate. "History is full of 
ruins.'' 

All this is by way of contrast to the di- 
vine love and the divine Lover. Our Lord 
God loves us with an everlasting love, and 
surrounds us in nature, grace, and glory 
with the wondrous gifts of His love — so 
much so that the Apostle cries out, "All 
things are yours. ''^ We may say that all the 
beauties of nature are ours — ours to see, 
admire, love, and enjoy. Have you dear 
friends and relations, and some nearest and 
dearest? They are all the gifts of God's 
love to you. Have you life, breath, health, 
strength, powers of thinking, remembering, 
loving, willing, seeing, hearing, tasting, 
talking, walking, working? It is the same — 
they are the overflowings of God's love 

*i Cor. iii. 22. 



104 MUTUAL LOVE 

upon you, every day, hour, and mo- 
ment. 

Is all this enough ? No ; not nearly enough. 
Our Lord God must come down to us, live 
with us, give Himself to us, abide with us 
always, even to the end of the world, by 
His incarnation establishing a new order 
of things — the order of grace. And thus 
nature and grace flow in upon our lives 
every day, hour and moment; the truth 
of God is the light of our minds, and 
the love of God the life of our hearts. 
Our Lord is ever the model and perfect man 
in the hidden, active, suffering, and glorified 
life. His Mother becomes the model and the 
perfect woman, and He gives us to her keep- 
ing in union with Himself. His Church is 
to carry on His work on earth till the end 
and to transmit His truth and grace to the 
nations. The spirit of God is sent down on 
her to lead and keep her in all truth and be 
the leading and governing spirit to all the 
children of His grace and love. The sacra- 
ments convey the virtue of His precious 
blood according to the many and varied 
wants among the souls of men. And more 
than all. Our Lord Himself, God and man, 
hides Himself under the sacramental veil, 
ever to be in our midst, ever to be the pro- 



MUTUAL LOVE 105 

pitiation for our sins in His sacrificial life, 
and ever ready to come to us one by one in 
His hidden presence. 

But will Our Lord show Himself? Ah, 
no. Do not ask that. You have plenty 
without it. There is a time for all things. 
Afterward we shall see Him. But here, such 
is His plan, ''We walk by faith and not by 
sight.'^^ But He is none the less near. And 
He makes His "homeliest home'' ever in our 
midst. 

Is not Our Lord God in everything offer- 
ing us Himself ? How will it be with those 
who resist Him? Will He not with justice 
turn from them and chastise them ? 'Tor/' 
He says, "if you wish to adorn yourself, you 
have My adornment : or to arm yourself, you 
have My arms : or to dress yourself, you have 
My clothing : or to eat, you have My table : 
or to walk, you have My way : or to be rich, 
you have My inheritance : or to build an edi- 
fice, you have My stones. I do not ask a 
reward of you for the things I give, but I 
owe interest to you besides if you will use 
all that is Mine. I am Father, Brother, 
Friend, and Lover. I am home, I am food, 
I am clothing, I will also be a slave, for I 
came to minister, not to be ministered to. 

*2 Cor. V. 7. 



io6 MUTUAL LOVE 

I am all things whatsoever you desire, only 
hold Me for your own. I am poor for you 
and a wanderer for you. I was on the cross 
for you and in the tomb for you. I intercede 
with the Father for you above, and I came 
down to earth as a messenger to you from 
the Father. You are all things to Me — 
brother, co-heir, friend, and member. What 
more do you ask? Why do you turn away 
from your Friend and Lover ? Why labour 
for the world? Why run at random and 
pour water into a broken pitcher?''^ 

What now about our love in return to this 
tremendous Lover ? 

Certainly we can no more cease to love 
than we can cease to think. But why should 
we spend the best love of our hearts on 
creatures that come and go so quickly — that 
are so small, changing, and uncertain? 

Let us go straight to our dear Lord God, 
all around, above, and within us, in nature, 
grace, and glory. He is the Infinitely Great, 
the Infinitely Wise, the Infinitely Good, the 
Infinitely Powerful, the Infinitely Loving. 
He is all for us, every day, hour, and mo- 
ment. With Him there is no shadow or 
change of alteration. ''Of Him, by Him, 
and in Him are all things.'' Let it be our 

*From St. John Chrys. In Matt. Horn. 76. 



MUTUAL LOVE 107 

delight to enjoy His divine presence. The 
riches of His wisdom and love are ever pour- 
ing in upon us, in all the beauties of nature 
and grace, and He delights in making us 
sharers in His light, love, life, and happi- 
ness. Let our minds and hearts be ever open 
to Him. He will never fail us — Father, 
Friend, and Lover of our souls. And how 
He descends from the majesty of His glory, 
bending to our lowliness, to be ever in our 
midst, and close to us, one by one, in His 
wondrous, hidden, sacramental life. How 
readily, fully, constantly we ought to respond 
to such vast love! Love is preference. 
Therefore let us voluntarily choose Our 
Lord God as the Infinite Good and the only 
Good, ''of Him, by Him, and in Him'^ being 
all other good things in nature, grace, and 
glory. This will indeed be soul-satisfying. 
And with it we may say again and again 
with the Apostle, "All things are yours.'' 
Who loves and enjoys the beauties of nature 
more than those who ever see them as the 
pourings around them of wisdom and love 
divine? And the same of all the wonders 
of grace and glory, too. And as acts make 
habits, so by thus seeing, loving, and enjoy- 
ing the Infinite Good in all the works of His 
hand we strengthen and develop more and 



io8 MUTUAL LOVE 

more the best habit of the divine affective 
love within our hearts. 

Affective love, of course, must become 
effective. And thus it is that inner love 
spurs us on to outer works, and the love of 
God overflows to the love of our neighbour. 
In this way the works of daily life, even 
though in themselves they be small, hidden, 
and ordinary, are done faithfully and fer- 
vently in the spirit of mutual love between 
the soul and God, and the soul is trained to 
see the divine love and will in all; nor is it 
ever seeking for persons, places, and works 
that would please it naturally, knowing that 
the great and only reality is in the mutual 
love within and that externals are but acci- 
dentals ; but it leaves all arrangements to the 
divine Lover and Provider, who uses other 
souls that way and herself this way, and all 
for His own great ends and the vast needs 
of souls. When, however, the duties of 
office, obedience, or charity call for great 
undertakings, then a loving soul is ever 
ready to go forth to outer works, God and 
the soul working together therein. 'Thine 
and mine, dear Lord.'' God ever the prin- 
cipal Worker, Our Lord ever in our midst, 
and the Holy Ghost governing us by His 
gifts and fruits. Thus the contemplative 



MUTUAL LOVE 109 

and active element are ever blending to- 
gether, the same life of mutual love between 
God and the soul sustaining both, contempla- 
tion moving to action when the right time 
comes, and action, by ardent love, nourishing 
contemplation. And so it is when many vast 
works and immense undertakings have to be 
seen to and done for the good of our fellow- 
creatures, whether in the spiritual or tem- 
poral order. God works for man and man 
works for God. God needs man in carrying 
out His great purposes, and man needs God; 
for without Him we can do nothing. So it is 
in all the works of nature and grace. And 
by this means we are made to depend both 
on God and on one another. And by this 
dependence we are moved to the twofold love 
of God and our neighbour. Thus God loves 
us and we at once love Him and one an- 
other. This is the sweet mutual love be- 
tween God and His creatures, and the more 
we have of it the sweeter is life here below, 
gradually leading us on to the life of ever- 
lasting mutual love between God and His 
creatures, with our dear Lord, our dear 
Lady, the cherubim, seraphim, and all the 
bright angels, the glorious saints, and the 
spirits of the just made perfect in the realms 
of heavenly bliss. 



IX 

©uter Motfts an& IFnner Spirit 

rrfHE Apostle tells us that in the Church o£ 
God ''there are diversities of graces, but 
the same spirit. And there are diversities 
of ministries, but the same Lord. And there 
are diversities of operations, but the same 
God who worketh all in all."^ Here we see 
unity in diversity. Graces, ministries, and 
operations are manifold. God is rich and 
overflowing in the things of grace, as He is 
in those of nature. Mountains, hills, cata- 
racts, rivers, valleys, plains, rocks, verdure, 
flowers, fruits, sands, and desert, all are 
placed by Him according to His will and 
''the spirit of God hath filled the whole 
world."^ So it is in the order of grace. 
God's gifts to men are various and marvel- 
lous. Some have acute and penetrating 
minds, others tender and loving hearts. 
Some are fitted for abstract science, others 
for concrete business. The different sexes 
have their different gifts, all for the benefit 
of the Church, the world, society, and home. 

*i Cor. xii. 4. 'Wis. i. 7. 

no 



OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT iii 

Philosophy, history, poetry, eloquence, art, 
government, invention and a thousand other 
working abilities are God's gifts to His 
creatures here below, and with these intel- 
lectual, moral, and spiritual virtues, leading 
men to holiness, sanctity, and perfection, 
according to the many states of life arranged 
by Divine Providence both for the spiritual 
and temporal order of the world. 

As in nature, so in grace, all have to stand, 
each in his place and order, fulfilling the 
divine will. For '^the Lord is just in all His 
ways, and holy in all His works.''^ One of 
us He places here and another there. To 
one He gives five, to another ten, and to 
others one or two talents. Some are called 
to noble works, having both abilities and op- 
portunities thereto. Others are destined to 
humble and hidden life, just as it is in 
nature: 

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 

Some abound in active works in the 
Church, others are but little used. But ''the 
Lord knoweth who are His."^ Those also 
serve who only stand and wait. Externals 
are but accidentals. ''It is the spirit that 

^Ps. cxiiv. 17. ^2 Tim. ii. 19. 



112 OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 

giveth life''^ that animates each one in his 
place and work, the same God working all 
in all. And a small work with much inner 
spirit and love is more meritorious than a 
great work with little love ; because there is 
more of the spirit o£ God within it. ''All 
these, one and the same spirit worketh, divid- 
ing to every one according as He will.^'^ 

It would be much to our own spiritual 
good and advancement, as also for the ben- 
efit of communities, if all thoroughly well 
understood and realised this point of doc- 
trine, that the inner spirit it is that really 
decides the supernatural worth and merit of 
our actions. Indeed, have we not the 
Apostle enumerating the very grandest ex- 
ternals, and yet declaring to us that without 
the inner unitive love we are as "a sounding 
brass and a tinkling cymbal" ? Not advert- 
ing to this, even religious men are found 
with over-much natural activity, striving for 
name, fame, office, position, and 

Tired of knocking at preferment's door. 

Were it not better to remember that all 
Religious and priests are consecrated souls, 
and their one business is to live in contact 
with the spirit of God, working in union 

*John vi. 64. ^i Cor. xii. 11. 



OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 113 

with Our Lord, that His will may be done 
on earth, as it is in heaven ? 

The sweetest lives are those to duty wed, 
Whose deeds, both great and small, 

Are close-knit strands of one unbroken 
thread, 
Where love ennobles all. 

But so it is. Nature and grace move their 
own ways. Nature is perpetually active, 
looking to its own pleasure and passing in- 
terests, anxious for name, place, power, in- 
fluence, and the management of things 
around it. Maybe the spiritual eye is not yet 
sufficiently opened. For want of self-train- 
ing souls look at things in their natural light 
instead of the light of God. And acts make 
habits. Thus it is that the activities of 
nature become impediments to the govern- 
ance of grace. And the old truth presses us 
here, that for the development of perfect 
love to God we must have a voluntary and 
consistent exercise of prayer and mortifica- 
tion. If, therefore, those who abound in 
outer works for the benefit of others are not 
men of prayer and mortification, they may 
indeed point out the good ways to others by 
their words, and yet, as sign-posts on the 
road, not advance along the way themselves. 



114 OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 

From this we see what an important part 
in the training of religious men and Church 
students the formation of the interior spirit 
ought to be. 

The work of souls is our blessed Lord's 
own work. He is ever the principal worker. 
But He wills that His priests work with Him. 

Volo Pater, ut ubi ego sum, illic sit et 
minister Mens. 

As in nature, so in grace, God uses the 
agency of His creatures in working for 
others. Thus the Church's sacramental sys- 
tem and Our Lord's own sacramental pres- 
ence come to us from Our Lord through His 
priests. What a man of God, therefore, a 
priest ought to be! How united with Our 
Lord! What a man of prayer! What a 
man of detachment and mortification, in 
order to ensure the life of mutual love and 
mutual working between Our Lord and His 
priest! But all this means interior spirit. 
Else how soon we come to the sounding 
brass and tinkling cymbal ! 

Truly we want inner union and love with 
God, both in prayer and action. How read- 
ily and lovingly we ought to go to our daily 
mental prayer, as those who love one another 
delight to be together, and give themselves 
to mutual converse and enjoyment. What a 



OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 115 

pleasure and privilege it should ever be to 
us to assist at the Holy Mass whenever we 
can, for the Mass ever means Our Lord 
coming to us and we going to Him, and it 
ever means the pourings of Our Lord's 
precious blood upon our souls, with the re- 
mission of our many sins we daily strive to 
conquer-/ for ''the blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth us from all sin."^ And "He is the 
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours 
only, but also for those of the whole world. "^ 
And further, how we ought to train our- 
selves to the hahit of constant mental and 
affective prayer; seeing the divine presence 
around, above, within us, being impressed 
with the divine beauty and loveliness in the 
works both of nature and grace; going fre- 
quently to Our Lord's sacramental presence, 
as the divine Lover, whose delights are to be 
with the children of men : remembering, too, 
the bright angelic spirits before the throne 
of our hidden Lord — Tihi cherubim et sera- 
phim. ''How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O 
Lord of Hosts ; my soul longeth and f ainteth 
for the courts of the Lord."^ Thus linger- 
ing often before the hidden presence, listen- 
ing to Our Lord's sweet voice and giving 

'In remissionem eorum quae a nobis quotidie committun- 
tur peccatorum. Cone. Trid. s. 22, c. i. 
^i John i. 7. ^Ibid. ii. 2. "^Ps. Ixxxiii. i. 



ii6 OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 

Him the preference of our hearts before all 
other creatures, and all this gradually 
strengthening into habit — loving thus to en- 
gage ourselves — and so enjoying what is in- 
deed the spirit of prayer — the love of it from 
the heart — preferring ''the attendance on 
God before all external things.''^ 

Then it is that spirit and love come into 
our actions as well as our prayer. And oh ! 
how desirable and enjoyable it is to find the 
vivifying presence of the spirit of God 
prompting, sustaining, enlivening and sweet- 
ening all the ordinary works of daily lifeP 

Here is the difference between a man of 
God and one who lives and works in the 
human spirit. And so it must be. If we are 
not under the governance of the spirit of 
God we are necessarily led by the human 
spirit. And this, with its miseries, imper- 
fections, and shortcomings, is bound to come 
out in the works and ways of daily life. 
Alas! how abundantly we witness it in the 
ways of the world! All the awful crimes 
against God and man perpetually rising 
from earth to heaven are the offspring of the 
human spirit. But the spirit of God governs 
the Church since the day of Pentecost, and 

*Imit. iii. 53. 
'Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur ii sunt filii Dei. Rom. viii. 14. 



OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 117 

the Church governs the nations in their 
Faith, and every one of us who Hve in sub- 
mission to her voice. Yet even children of 
the Church, faithful and united as they are 
under the good spirit in things of Faith, are 
not so when it comes to divine charity and 
the many virtues proper to their state. 
''Alas, the old man is still alive within me,'' 
as the author of the 'Imitation" says. And 
the will and the heart, with their many work- 
ings, instead of engaging themselves with 
the life of divine love, are found to be over- 
abounding in their own natural activities, 
and thus the work of our spiritual progress 
is continually intercepted and interfered 
with, while habits of natural activity and 
idle gratification strengthen and develop 
from constant exercise and indulgence. 

Here we see again and again the need of 
self-training and true discipline of soul. To 
what purpose, indeed, do we enjoy the in- 
ward life of grace and love if we do not 
move and work by this divine principle? 
Thus the Apostle says, 'Tf we live in the 
spirit, let us also walk in the spirit."^ If we 
enjoy the infused virtues of faith and love, 
certainly it is that we may work the works 
of faith and love, otherwise it comes to the 

^Gal. V. 25. 



ii8 OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 

possession of talents and the neglect of using 
them. Thus philosophy says, QucBlihet res 
est propter suam operationem. How ear- 
nestly every consecrated soul, whether in 
the Religious or priestly life, should strive 
to grasp and assimilate these principles that 
concern so closely the formation and per- 
fection at once of nature and grace. Our 
Lord's words fall upon us: ''If you know 
these things, you shall be blessed if you do 
them."^ Yet how often the good seed falls 
but does not sink in! How is it that even 
cultured and chosen souls hear the best 
things — things that concern their inmost life 
and happiness — like them, approve of them, 
believe them, commend them, and then let 
them go ? They have not yet learned to train 
themselves in the way of God. ''Show me, 
O Lord, Thy ways, and teach me Thy 
paths."^ They need a clear ideal of spiritual 
life, a constant working thereto, and the 
courage and resolution to be loyal to their 
highest convictions. All this implies the 
governance of the spirit of God, but to at- 
tain to it we must leave our hold of lesser 
things, for "unless a man be at liberty from 
things created he can not freely attend to 
things divine.''^ 

^John xiii. 17. *Ps. xxiv. 4. Hmh. iii. 



OUTER WORKS— INNER SPIRIT 119 

^^A man of the centre'^ must be a detached 
man. Living and working in the union of 
mutual love with God, his heart is where his 
treasure is, and in the light of God he sees 
all other things here below. By practice and 
inner training external works flow from the 
spirit within. And all this means the secure 
and meritorious progress of the soul to its 
ultimate end. 



X 

Ube Xiturgfcal Spirit 

(^HE true, divine, liturgical spirit ever im- 
plies the blending of the interior and 
exterior homage of the soul to God — the in- 
most love of the heart for the Infinitely 
Great, Good, and Beautiful, energising fully, 
reverently, devoutly, joyously, in all the 
prayers, praises, and ceremonies rising from 
earth to heaven in the Mass and the Divine 
Offices of the Church, in testimony of the 
supreme dominion of God over all His 
creatures, and of the honour, love, worship, 
obedience, and humble and heartfelt service 
we owe Him. 

As Our Lord God is the Fountain of all 
goodness in nature and grace, so He has 
willed that we should not be left to our own 
little devices and resources in the ways of 
prayer and praise. Thus the marvellous in- 
vention of His love in the Blessed Sacra- 
ment of the Altar places Him at once in the 
midst of His creatures, ever forming the 
centre of all our worship in the Catholic 
Church. 

1 20 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 121 

And if we do but awaken our faith in this 
divine mystery, do we not at once find herein 
the direct means of nourishing our inner life 
of love with Our Lord God, which is the best 
part of the interior homage of our soul, that 
has to give spirit, energy, and sweetness to 
all our external works ? For as we say again 
and again, this inner life is the mutual love 
between the soul and God. And here let 
us turn to the exquisite teaching of the An- 
gelic Doctor. Speaking of the theological 
virtue of charity, he says that it ''not only 
signifies the love of God, but also friendship 
with Him, which implies mutual love and 
mutual communication; as the Apostle says, 
''He that abideth in charity abideth in God, 
and God in him." And this friendship of 
man with God, which is a certain familiar 
conversation with Him, is begun here be- 
low by grace and is perfected hereafter in 
glory.' 

All this inner life of mutual love being 
premised, we understand that it has to be the 

^Caritas non solum significat amorem Dei, sed etiam 
amicitiam quandam ad Ipsum; quae quidem super amorem 
addit mutuam redamationem cum quadam communicatione 
mutua. Et quod hoc ad caritatem pertineat, potet per id 
quod dicitur i Jo. iv, "Qui manet in caritate in Deo manet, 
et Deus in eo." Haec autem societas hominis ad Deum, 
quae est quaedam familiaris conversatio cum Ipso, inchoatur 
quidem hie per gratiam, perficietur autem in future per 
gloriam. i. 2. Q. 65. A. 5. 



122 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

living soul and principle of all our outward 
acts of prayer and praise, that the Divine 
Spirit may energise in the entire ''Opus 
Dei''; and seeing, too, that the children of 
God must be led by the spirit of God.^ 

The instinct of every child of the Church 
living by faith and love will be to go before 
all the other works of the day to Our Lord's 
own great act of oblation in the Mass, 
wherein He offers Himself at all the hours 
of day and night in the different countries 
of the world for God's own great ends and 
the vast needs of souls. This is ever the 
greatest act on earth, perpetually going on, 
and all the priests and the faithful of the 
world offer it together in union with Our 
Lord. Let all the children of the Church 
realise this well, that they offer the Mass 
together with the priests of the Church and 
with Our Lord Himself; and if they like, as 
they well may, to say the words of the Mass 
with the priest, they may truly be said to say 
Mass themselves. If they prefer to assist 
silently at the Holy Sacrifice, there is always 
large liberty of spirit for this in so many 
different ways, whether by recalling the four 
great ends for which the sacrifice is offered, 
and forming their affections and petitions 

*Rom. viii. 14. 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 123 

accordingly, or by kneeling under the shadow 
of the cross and sheltering their miseries 
under Our Lord's merits and mercies. 

It is much according to the liturgical spirit 
to enter into the meaning of every word that 
is said and every ceremony that is used in 
the Mass and in all the Divine Offices of the 
Church. Our life of faith tells us that the 
word of the Church represent's Our Lord's 
word to be done : for He is the Head of the 
Body and all have to move by Him and ac- 
cording to Him. 

Ever premising what we say so often, that 
all our outer acts must be vivified by the 
inner spirit, and that Our Lord and the soul 
are in the life of mutual love together, as the 
Mass begins, will not a loving soul at once 
say: ''Dear Lord, Thine and mine"? How 
sweet to be thus in such close association 
with our blessed Lord, He living and work- 
ing with us and we living and working with 
Him. And the Mass is His and it is ours! 
This inner love vastly sustains, enlarges, 
vivifies, and sweetens the liturgical spirit, 
for it is truly the life of all — spiritus est qui 
vivificaf — and enlightens us to see and un- 
derstand all — illuminatos oculos cordis 
vestri.^ In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiri- 

ijohn vi. 64. ^Eph. i. 18. 



124 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

tus Sancti. ''Of Him and by Him and in 
Him are all things/ The Holy Sacrifice is 
emphatically the work of the eternal Trinity. 
Let it proceed, therefore, in the name of 
God. It is no human work. But God wills 
that men work with Him, as in nature, so 
in grace. So let all be according to God, not 
according to man. What must be our rev- 
erence, love, and devotion? Introiho ad 
altare Dei. It is to God's altar that we go. 
This is His own divine work, yet we work 
with Him. It is all the life of mutual love. 
He and we forever together. And a loving 
soul soon finds divine meaning in every 
verse. How quickly is such a one caught up 
with a word or two passing between the 
Church and her Lord — Dens Tu conversus 
vivificabis nos. Here is Our Lord God turn- 
ing to us — and why? To vivify us with His 
spirit. Ostende nobis Domine misericor- 
diam Tuam. Here again and again are the 
mutual workings and dealings between Our 
Lord and the soul. Aufer a nobis, Domine, 
cunctas iniquitates nostras, ut ad Sancta 
Sanctorum puris Tibi mentibus. Here we 
seek the purification of the soul in Our 
Lord's merits before entering the Holy of 
Holies. How we are reminded that all our 

^Rom. xi. 36. 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 125 

externals have to be referred to the inner 
life of the soul, the main work of our per- 
fection constantly proceeding. 

Now sounds the 'Introif' on our ears. 
This differs morning by morning according 
to the seasons and festivals of the year — 
either God speaking to us or we to Him. 
How frequently the words are exactly fitting 
to our souls, according to our common needs 
or the special intention for which we are 
offering the Sacrifice. 

Ad Te levavi animam meant — Deus mens 
in Te confido. Vias Tuas Domine demonstra 
mihi^ et sentitas Tuas edoce me. Thus on 
the first Sunday of Advent we lift our souls 
to God in full confidence, God and the soul 
ever together, and in view to progress in His 
ways. Expecta Dominum viriliter age, et 
confortetur cor tuam, et sustine Dominum. 
Wait Our Lord's time, but do manfully. Be 
a doer, not merely a hearer. And wait for 
Our Lord. Carifas Dei diffusa est in cordi- 
bus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum qui datus 
est nobis. Here is the work of the Holy 
Ghost in the souls of men — the diffusion of 
His own inner life within us — that He and 
we may ever live and work together, per 
caritatem. Yet in this life of mutual love 
our faults are constant — and thus the daily 



126 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

prayer for mercy, ^^Kyrie eleison'': seeing 
that ''His mercy is over all His works/' 

'Tove, contrition, and the Mass" now 
easily strike upon the soul, as per se purifi- 
cantes^ and the faults and fears of nature 
are quickly lost in the strength of love, like 
mould on metal is lost in fire. And thus, 
with full confidence in the divine beauty, 
power, and goodness, and Our Lord's 
abounding merits, the soul bursts forth into 
the ''Gloria in excelsis Deo,'' praising the 
divine greatness and loveliness with all 
heaven and earth, and the Lamb of God who 
takes away the sins of the world. Thus 
purified in the precious merits of Our Lord, 
and going to God wholly through Him, as 
He says, "No man cometh to the Father but 
by Me," in the "Collects" we break into 
humble petitions for the Church, the world, 
and ourselves. Excita Domine potentiam 
Tuam. Excita Domine corda nostra. Here 
we see God and man, as always, working 
together, God loving to work with us and we 
loving to work with Him. Ut qui sine Te 
esse non possumus, secundum Te vivere vole- 
amus. Every single prayer of the Church 
bespeaks to us this mutual working between 
God and man, and thus becomes the direct 
means of nourishing within us the inner life 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 127 

of mutual love. The ''Epistle" is as a letter 
of love from the Divine Lover to the loving 
soul, ever speaking sweet words of help and 
comfort. The versicles that follow are as 
dartings of love between Our Lord and our- 
selves: sometimes He speaking, sometimes 
we. The ''Gospel" is Our Lord's own direct 
word to the souls of men : sometimes adapt- 
ing Himself to our own modes of speech by 
the analogies of nature, as in the parables, 
ever so impressive, so unanswerable: at 
other times plainly rebuking the follies of 
mankind, as when addressing the scribes 
and Pharisees; or appealing to the tenderest 
instincts of our nature, as when weeping 
over Jerusalem, beseeching imploringly His 
ungrateful children. But in whatever way 
Our Lord speaks, His every word is an efflu- 
ence of eternal wisdom, falling as good seed 
upon our souls, implanting within us His 
gifts of truth and love divine. Are we as 
good ground, well kept and cultivated, with 
all corresponding conditions to His work 
within us ? 

At the "Credo" we remember that faith is 
light divine within us, enlightening our path 
all along the journey of life here below. 
How manfully Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, 
Ambrose, and Leo fought for the Nicene 



128 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

faith. The Church has handed it down, and 
day by day we profess it. 

The ''Offertory'' presents Our Lord's 
oblation, and ours in union with Him. All 
together, priests and people, in union with 
Our Lord, make the oblation: for through 
Our Lord alone we find our way to God. 
We may here recall the four great ends for 
which the sacrifice is offered, and the vast 
needs of souls throughout the Church and 
world, offering for all or each, as the case 
may be, the merits of our divine Lord here 
and on all the altars throughout the world: 
in union with Himself, our blessed Lady, the 
cherubim and seraphim, all the angelic 
choirs, all the saints of the Church tri- 
umphant, and the whole Church suffering 
and militant. In this full union we present 
the prayers of the ''Secreta," and all through 
Our Lord, per Dominum nostrum Jesum 
Christum. And well now, at the 'Treface," 
may Holy Mother Church invite us to lift 
up our hearts, ''Sursum corda," seeing that 
we are now rather in the union of the unseen 
world than engaged with things of earth. 
And as enjoying such divine gifts, we may 
well be reminded of the thanks due to the 
divine Giver : Gratias agamus Domino Deo 
nostro. Still keeping our hearts and aft'ec- 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 129 

tions upward, as the ^Treface'^ proceeds, in 
the full union of heaven and earth, we praise, 
adore, and thank the Holy Trinity, the Eter- 
nal Father, beginning and end of all, the lov- 
ing Son, through whom we go to God, and 
the life-giving and sanctifying Spirit of us 
all — the dear angels, cherubim and seraphim 
always uniting with us in their praise and 
love. We may notice in the ''Ordinary Pref- 
ace'' how it is through Our Lord, the head 
of angels and men, that the angels praise the 
divine majesty — per Quern Majestatem 
Tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, 
tremunt Potestates, . . . ae beata seraphim. 
And with all these blessed spirits we pray 
that we may be allowed to join our humble 
voices. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut ad- 
mitti jubeas deprecamur. Thus all angels 
and men go to God together through our 
blessed Lord. How truly worthy of the in- 
finite majesty is such divine worship. And 
how delightful it becomes day by day to 
realise more and more the beauty and the 
nearness of the unseen world around us, and 
especially during the oblation of the divine 
sacrifice. And let us not forget how this is 
proceeding night and day in the different 
countries of the world, and if the sins of men 
are forever rising from earth to heaven, 



130 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

there are the infinite merits of Our Lord for 
ever rising also, and the united homage of 
heaven and earth in sweet association with 
Him. 

At the ''Canon'' of the Mass we are all in 
special union together, priests and people; 
yea, angels and saints, too, and all again 
through our blessed Lord, He leading us on- 
ward, to whom all power in heaven and earth 
has been given. Thus observe the plural 
numbers — rogamus, offerimus — reminding 
us of our close union all together, in and 
with which we intercede now for the Church, 
the Pontiff, the bishops, and all the faithful 
throughout the world. At the "Memento" 
of the living we are more especially re- 
minded of the priest and people all offering 
the Sacrifice together. ''Be mindful, O 
Lord, of Thy servants, men and women, and 
of all here present," pro quibus Tibi offeri- 
mus, vel qui Tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium 
laudis, pro se, suisque omnibus. And at the 
"Communicantes" we associate ourselves 
still more closely with our blessed Lord, our 
blessed Lady, the apostles, martyrs, and all 
the saints, through whose merits and prayers 
we ask to be defended and protected. We 
may well believe that at the "Consecration" 
the sanctuary fills with angels, to give hon- 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 131 

our and homage to the Lord of angels and 
men. Tihi omnes angelL Tibi cherubim et 
seraphim. As they are all ministering 
spirits, we can not conceive any time when 
they would more swiftly gather together 
than the moment of consecration in the 
Mass, when their Lord incarnate becomes at 
once priest and victim for love of God and 
men. For truly ''where the King is, there is 
the court.'' And how fitting it seems that 
when the Lord of heaven and earth hides and 
humbles His divine loveliness for love of the 
souls of men, the highest of the angelic 
choirs should delight in surrounding Him 
with the light and love of their heavenly 
bliss; so that while He descends so low for 
love of us, He may rise to the headship of 
power for love of them : for so He says, ''All 
power is given to Me in heaven and on 
earth." Let us shelter ourselves under Our 
Lord's merits, and let His precious blood 
pour over our souls ; for "He is the propitia- 
tion for our sins." With love, contrition, 
and the Mass let our souls be purified, and let 
us renew the oblation for God's own great 
ends and the vast needs of souls. Hence the 
"Unde et memores." The Church tri- 
umphant, suffering, and militant are all to- 
gether between the "Elevation" and the "Pater 



132 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

noster/' and truly Our Lord loves to be sur- 
rounded with His saints and loving souls and 
to send His purifying streams through the 
Church on earth, and on to the suffering 
souls in purgatory, for it is through Him 
that we all go to God — Per Quern hcec omnia^ 
Domine semper bona areas, vivificas, et 
prcestas nobis. Thus we come to the 'Tater 
noster." And the whole united Church, in 
heaven, purgatory, and earth, may delight in 
this sweet relationship, for Our Lord God is 
truly Father, Friend, and Lover of us all. 
How sweetly the mutual love between Our 
Lord and ourselves and one another appears 
in every word of Our Lord's prayer. Our 
Father, not my Father, that we may all live 
in mutual love with Our Lord and one an- 
other. May Our Lord God be hallowed, hon- 
oured, and loved by us all. May He reign 
in the hearts of us all. May our works fol- 
low our love, by doing His will here as it is 
done in heaven. May God grant us all He 
sees we need. May He forgive us as we for- 
give one another. May He give us to over- 
come all temptation, and may He deliver us 
from every evil. 'Tax Domini,'' may the 
peace of Our Lord be ever with us. ''Agnus 
Dei," Lamb of God, who takest away the 
sins of the world, have mercy on us. Again 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 133 

we are reminded of Our Lord as the propitia- 
tion for our sins and of the purifying power 
of His merits on our souls. Thus day by 
day we find the remedy for our lesser faults. 
We are not bound to confess them. Love, 
contrition, and the Mass will suffice to purify 
our souls. Of this the prayer before the ''Com- 
munion" reminds us — Domine Jesu Christe 
. . . libera me per hoc Sacro sanctum Corpus 
et Sanguinam Tuum ah omnibus iniqiiitati- 
bus meis. Thus purified. Our Lord gives 
Himself to us in the ''Communion" and we 
give ourselves to Him. And with Him and 
the whole heavenly court we may unite in 
intercessory prayer during the remainder of 
the Mass, when the priest also is offering the 
petitions of the Church in the "Post-com- 
munion" prayers. The "Last Gospel" brings 
us again to the Word made flesh, the Head of 
angels and of men : "The first-born of every 
creature in whom were all things created in 
heaven, and on earth, visible and invisible, 
whether thrones, or dominations, or princi- 
palities, or powers— all things were created 
by Him, and in Him. And He is before all, 
and by Him all things consist. And He is 
the Head of the body, the Church . . . that 
in all things He may hold the primacy: be- 
cause in Him it hath well pleased the Father 



134 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

that all fulness should dwell: and through 
Him to reconcile all things to Himself, both 
as to the things on earth, and the things that 
are in heaven/'^ 

How infinitely worthy of the Holy Trinity 
is the oblation of the divine sacrifice of the 
Mass ! Where should we poor creatures of 
earth be without it ? How would the all-pure 
God endure the world's wickedness were it 
not that the Lamb of God is ever in the midst 
of us ? And ''He is the propitiation for our 
sins/'^ And if the sins of men for ever rise 
from earth to heaven, the all-beauteous Son 
of God, with all the merits and homage of 
His sacred humanity, surrounded with the 
heavenly court and countless loving souls of 
the Church militant, ofifer in the Mass per- 
petual praise and love to God, and thus 
counterbalance the wickedness of the world. 
How readily, willingly, gratefully, lovingly, 
should we assist at this greatest act on earth 
with full-hearted joy and devotion whenever 
we can do it, delighted to be able worthily to 
worship and love God and to have our souls 
cleansed from their daily faults in the puri- 
fying streams of Our Lord's precious blood. 

Next to the Holy Mass we have to revere 

*Col. i. 15. 2 1 John ii. 2. 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 135 

and love all the Divine Offices of the Church. 
As the Church represents Our Lord's pres- 
ence and authority on earth, and as she sol- 
emnly prescribes the recitation of the Divine 
Office to those consecrated to God in the 
priestly and Religious life, so it is evident that 
all these additional prayers and praises be- 
speak the will of God to be done. As, there- 
fore, the Mass is Our Lord's own infinite act 
of homage, which He offers for us as the rep- 
resentative Man, so the Divine Office is the 
Church's ceaseless homage to God. And 
God wills that we should pay this to Him 
with sweet accord of heart and lips — ut hoc 
versetur in corde, quod profertur in ore^ — 
ever remembering that in all our outer works 
we must have the right spirit within, lest we 
be as "a sounding brass and a tinkling 
cymbal." 

How much the true inner life of mutual 
love between the soul and God will help us 
to enjoy and understand the meaning both 
of the inspired Word and of all the prayers, 
anthems, and lessons of the Divine Office, as 
it is indeed the key to all holy reading and 
working! How could it be otherwise, seeing 
that all spiritual thinking and living are be- 
tween God and man ? In the words of Scrip- 
ture or the Church's offices, either God 

*St. Aug. in Regula. 



136 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

speaks to us or we to Him. If we have 
trained ourselves to think of Him, love Him 
above all, speak to Him, live and work with 
Him, how easily all are turned to the work- 
ings of love between God and men. This 
inner spirit it is that can alone rightly and 
worthily awaken and sustain the soul's in- 
terest, delight, yea, and enthusiasm, too, in 
all the externals of the Church's liturgy, 
offices, and devotions. 

All this being premised, it is altogether 
according to the liturgical spirit to enter 
fully into the reverent recitation and render- 
ing of all the Church's words, said or sung, 
in her offices, and, further, to follow the 
sacred meaning of them all. If the words, 
musical notes, and ceremonies are prescribed 
and approved by apostolic authority, may we 
not and should we not feel that every one 
of them, even to the least, bring us the divine 
will to be loved and done, and therefore that 
to the faithful doing of each of them, one 
by one, a grace is attached? The life of 
faith and love tells us all this. And if our 
progress to the end of perfect love be the 
real thing it should be, how can we reconcile 
ourselves to continual losses on the way, 
arising from neglect and carelessness in 
doing well what has to be done? 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 137 

In the old law God required a very faithful 
service from His chosen people, both as to 
the outer forms and ceremonies of religion, 
as also to the right spirit within. ''What 
doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but 
that thou fear Him, and walk in His ways, 
and love Him, and serve Him with all thy 
heart, and all thy soul, and keep His com- 
mandments and His ceremonies, that it may 
be well with thee? Take heed, and beware, 
lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy 
God and neglect His commandments, and 
judgments, and ceremonies. Keep, there- 
fore, and do the things which the Lord God 
hath commanded. You shall not go aside, 
neither to the right hand, nor to the left 
hand.''^ In order to fulfil well these sacred 
works in all their details, the inner spirit 
will move us firstly to the good pronuncia- 
tion of all the words and syllables. If syl- 
lables are not pronounced, words are not 
pronounced; and if the words are not said, 
the duty is neglected. Is there not a special 
charm in perfect pronunciation? Those of 
appreciative natures know it. Ask the elo- 
cutionists and the rhetoricians and the ora- 
tors and the actresses. Demosthenes attests 
it. All cultured speakers attend to it. Vocal- 

*Deut. X. 12; viii. 11; v. 32. 



138 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

ists excel in it. In singing or reciting the 
divine praises in choir all should train them- 
selves to perfect pronunciation of the words 
and syllables. For here is the opus Dei, 
which ought to be opus perfectum. And let 
it ever be said, the inner spirit of love should 
vivify the outer sound of words and song. It 
is the spirit that gives life; and the inner 
heart is what God chiefly commands. Thus 
the spirit it is that moves to the perfect 
work. And thus it is that those whose outer 
works are so imperfect are seen so deficient 
in the inner life of love with God. Spiritus 
est qui vivificat} This want of spirit ac- 
counts for long-standing, habitual faults and 
failings in the external rendering of the 
Church's choral offices, such as excessive 
rapidity in pronunciation, when it becomes 
evident that syllables, and therefore words, 
are not said, a habit that easily becomes in- 
veterate, more especially in the '^Secreta" of 
the Mass and the Divine Office. And here 
how clearly the constant repetition of the 
act forms the habit ! Quickness soon passes 
into hurry, and hurry into irreverence, and 
irreverence into disedification, with loss at 
once of spirit and discipline. Younger ones 
pick up the ways of their elders. And thus 

•John vi. 64. 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 139 

the spirit of a community deteriorates : and 
the Divine Offices that should so engage the 
heart's best love, and that might so easily 
lead on loving souls to contemplative prayer, 
are gone through in a customable way, with 
little or no relish — far, indeed, from the en- 
joyment of which Hilton speaks when he 
says that ''every word is sounded savourly, 
sweetly, and delectably, with full accord of 
mouth and heart/'^ 

St. Bernard was apparently anxious about 
all such things among those whom he gov- 
erned. "Serve Our Lord reverently,^' he 
says, ''not indolently or heedlessly, not neg- 
lecting words and syllables, but reciting 
vigorously and effectively.''^ 

But here, as in all other things, operatio 
sequitur esse. From careless natures care- 
less operations follow. And thus if effects 
are to be rectified the causes must be recti- 
fied. We are not to be governed by nature, 
but we are to govern nature by grace. "Be 
not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by 
good."^ 

'Scale of perf. iii. 12. 

^Reverenter et alacriter Domino assistetis — non pigri, 
non somnolenti, non oscitantes, non parcentes vocibus — non 
prsecidentes verba dimidia, non Integra transilientes, non 
fractis et remissis vocibus — sed sonitu et affectu voces 
Sancti Spiritus depromentes. St. Bern. Serm. xlvii. in 
Cant. viii. ^Rom. xii. 21. 



I40 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

Further, it is according to the liturgical 
spirit, not only to say the words well, but 
to enter into the meaning of what is said. 
Here, again, so much depends upon the 
inner spirit, as also upon the cultivation and 
appreciation o£ individual souls. It is cer- 
tain, as St. Augustine says, that love is 
light.^ St. Paul also affirms it: ''Being 
rooted and founded in charity, you may be 
able to understand.''^ And Cardinal Bona: 
''Love is a fire burning and shining. When 
it burns in the will, it shines in the under- 
standing."^ The inner habit of love between 
the soul and God quickly sends its light upon 
the inspired Word and the writings of the 
saints. And it is natural to a loving soul to 
see in all the pages of Holy Writ and holy 
writings either God speaking to us or we 
speaking to Him ; and this at once bespeaks 
the life of mutual love between the soul and 
God. Thus the lives of all the saints in the 
Second Nocturns show us the mutual work- 
ings between them and the spirit of God, 
declaring to us holiness in the concrete: 
while the Homilies of the Holy Fathers give 
us holiness in the abstract. And both one 
and the other are needful. We want both 

'Caritas est lux. Epist. cxl. ad Honorat. 
*Eph. iii. 17. ^YidL Comp. c. ix. 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 141 

principles and practice. We have first to 
know the things of God, then do them. 
The saints were eminently doers of the 
Word. 

It is well admitted that the nearer souls 
approach to God in the life of mutual love, 
the more they incline to simplicity, as con- 
trasted with multiplicity. Thus the "Imita- 
tion" : "He to whom all things are one ; who 
draws all things to one; who sees all things 
in one, may be steady in heart and peaceably 
repose in God. O truth, my God, make me 
one with Thee in everlasting love. Let all 
teachers hold their peace. Speak Thou 
alone to me.''^ 

And thus after enjoying for long years 
the literal meaning of the verses, anthems, 
and lessons of the Office, it may easily hap- 
pen to many souls having, as a poet says, 
"the heavenward bent,'' to be fully satisfied 
with a sense of the divine presence and a 
realisation of this as the one great and only 
reality, seeing that all things else come and 
go and pass away, thus finding in the Word 
of God and the Church's words and holy 
writings and the lives of the saints the con- 
tinual effluences of light and love divine, re- 
membering, as the Apostle says, "All things 

^Imit. i. 3. 



142 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

are yours, and you are Chrisf s, and Christ 
is God's/'^ He overflowing of His riches into 
our souls, who is "above all, and through all, 
and in us all/'^ Ut impleamini in omnem 
plenitudinem Dei.^ Yet all this with much 
liberty of spirit, for the Spirit breatheth 
where He willeth, and while He Himself is 
the all-sufficient, ever-satisfying life of our 
souls, "of whom, and by whom, and in whom 
are all things,''^ yet owing to the constant 
weakness of our nature, we often fail in at- 
tention to His presence and workings, and 
so have to return to the more ordinary ways 
both of mental and vocal prayer. Still, 
means of inner purification are always at 
hand in love, contrition, and the Mass. Thus 
from one of the old Fathers of the Desert, 
the Abbot Pynulphius: "Besides the grace 
of Baptism and martyrdom, charity has the 
same power of freeing us from our sins.'^ 
As St. Peter says : "Charity covereth a mul- 
titude of sins."^ And Our Lord God, speak- 
ing by the prophet : "I am He that blotteth 
out thy iniquities for My own sake; and I 
will not remember thy sins.^'^ In this way, 
if we deflect through weakness, the spirit 
quickly recovers through love; and "the 

^r Cor. iii. 22. ^Eph. iii. 19. ^ Cassian Conf . xix. c. viii. 
*Eph. iv. 6. '*Rom. xi. 36. *Is. xliii. 25. 



THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 143 

blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
sin."^ And as the habitual aspiration of the 
loving soul is to be going onward to God, 
so by divine instinct it knows that although 
it fail so frequently, yet it has as frequently 
to return to the divine presence and work- 
ing; and its habitual love of God above all 
things brings it to habitual union with Him, 
and the union of all its powers in Him; so 
that in the memory it remembers Him; in 
the intellect it knows Him, growing more 
and more in this divine knowledge; in the 
will it loves Him, growing more and more 
in the divine love ; and in all its other powers 
of soul and body it serves Him according to 
the divine will. And as in relation to this 
union all passing things are accidental, so 
whatever has to be done, and come what 
may, the loving soul has its thoughts and 
affections ever engaged with the divine 
object rather than with the things them- 
selves. All this is in accordance with the 
teaching of the Angelic Doctor, in his treat- 
ment de Oratione, where he tells us that 
there is a threefold attention in prayer: 

1. To the words, saying them correctly. 

2. To the sense of the words, following their 
meaning. 3. To God, who is the end of all 

4 John i. 7. 



144 THE LITURGICAL SPIRIT 

prayer, and so engaging at times is this at- 
tention (continues the holy doctor) that the 
soul may lose sight of all other things, while 
the spirit is intent on God/ 



^Quandoque in tantum abundat haec intentio, qua mens 
fertur in Deum, ut etiam aliorum omnium mens obliviscatur 
ut dicit Hugo de St. Vict, (de modo Oren. c. ii.). 2. 2. Q. 
83, Art. 13. 



XI 
XCbe Hpostolfc Spirit 

'Q'll the children of the Church may and 
should cultivate the apostolic spirit, 
which is a natural result of the love of God 
above all things overflowing in love to our 
neighbour. God has so planned that He 
gives us His good things through the agency 
of one another, He Himself being ever the 
First Cause and we working with Him, and 
this both in the order of nature and grace. 
How naturally, therefore, if we live and 
work in union with Our Lord God, shall we 
be moved, loving Him above all things, to 
wish that all others may love Him in the 
same way. And this is the beginning of the 
apostolic spirit — love for souls — and the de- 
sire to help them, directly or indirectly, 
toward the knowledge, love, and service of 
God, thus loving others as we love ourselves ; 
and as we love ourselves in the highest way 
by loving God and giving ourselves to His 
knowledge, love, and service more and more, 
so we love our neighbour as we love our- 
selves when we desire that he also should 

145 



146 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

know, love, and serve God in like manner, 
and when we do what we are able to help 
him to this end.^ 

Our Lord God became incarnate for love 
of the souls of men. His sacred passion and 
death were for them. The whole organisa- 
tion of the Catholic Church is for the carry- 
ing on the work of His redemption, by trans- 
mitting His truth and grace to the nations 
till the end of time. The Church's living 
voice and authority are for keeping men's 
minds and wills in the way of God during 
the course of their life here below. The 
sacraments of the Church are for giving us 
constant supplies of grace day by day, lest 
nature in her weakness should lead us 
astray. The living Word of God is for sow- 
ing again and again the good seed within 
our souls. Our Lord's sacramental and sac- 
rificial life is ever in our midst, that we may 
live by Him and go to God through Him. 
Our blessed Lady, the angels and the saints 
are ever near to help us. All the ministra- 
tions of the Church throughout the world, 
the governance of the Apostolic See, the 
hierarchy of bishops, the priesthood, the Re- 
ligious Orders, congregations and institu- 
tions, the writings of the Fathers, doctors, 

*From St. Aug. de doct. Christiana. Lib. i. v. xxii. 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 147 

and saints, the schools and science of the 
Church, her Hturgy and offices, her music 
and devotions, her parish visitations, con- 
fraternities, clubs, and associations, the 
training of her children, all these and much 
more are Our Lord's work and the Church's 
work for the souls of men. It is the apos- 
tolic spirit ever living and working in our 
midst. 

Well, then, may all children of the Church 
have their share in her spirit. The love of 
souls, of their salvation and well-being is 
part of the love of God and of our neigh- 
bour. First and foremost, those who are the 
successors of the apostles themselves, the 
bishops and priests of the Church, have to be 
truly apostolic men, men of God, ^'sanctified 
and profitable to the Lord, rightly handling 
the word of truth . . . that the man of God 
may be perfect, furnished to every good 
work."^ All this presupposes the govern- 
ance of the spirit of God ; and truly it is part 
of the proper training of all preparing for 
the priestly life, wherein souls are associated 
with Our Lord in His everlasting priesthood 
and consecrated for life to His love and ser- 
vice — to school themselves by self-discipline 
to the principles of grace, by means of which 

^2 Tim. ii. 21-15; iii. 17. 



148 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

the natural man may be duly governed. 
Here we come to the conflict between nature 
and grace, between the spirit of God and the 
human spirit, between self-love and divine 
love. The whole work of a spiritual life is 
the bringing of the natural man into sub- 
ordination to the spirit of God, that he may 
live and work by the principle of divine char- 
ity instead of by his own natural love ; thus 
little by little subduing nature to grace, till 
both go hand in hand together in the way 
of God. Then it is that such a one is truly 
called and is indeed a man of God, because 
subdued to God and governed in his 
thoughts, words, and works by the spirit of 
God. Then, as St. Paul says, he is ''fur- 
nished to every good work,'' because the 
spirit of God works in him and gives him 
abundantly of His gifts and fruits, and is 
therefore able to use him as a fit instrument 
in saving and sanctifying the souls of others. 
The prophets of old, the apostles, and saints 
were all men of God. So likewise bishops 
and priests represent Our Lord's presence 
and authority among the souls of men. They 
share Our Lord's priesthood. It is through 
His priests that He gives Himself to men — 
that He baptizes, absolves, consecrates, 
offers Himself in sacrifice and communicates 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 149 

His truth and grace to the world. Seeing, 
therefore, that Our Lord is ever the chief 
agent in the realm of grace, in the sacra- 
mental system, in the work of His Church, 
but that He wills His priests to work with 
Him,^ how close ought they to be in contact 
with the hand that uses them. Our Lord 
and His priest ever living together in the life 
of mutual love — the sanctuary their home — 
Our Lord ever there with priest and people. 
He with us and we with Him. He thinking 
of us and we of Him. He working with us 
and we with Him. Day by day Our Lord 
and His priest offer sacrifice together — give 
absolution, give communion, baptize, preach 
the Word of God, visit the sick together. 
'Thine and mine, dear Lord,'^ might not the 
priest say in the midst of all these sacred 
works? This it is — the mutual living and 
working together that bespeaks the man of 
God. As Our Lord says, 'Tf any man min- 
ister to Me, let him follow Me ; and where I 
am, there also shall My minister be.''^ 
"Father, I will that where I am, they also 
whom Thou hast given Me may be with 
Me.''^ As the Apostle says, 'That the man 
of God may be perfect, furnished to every 
good work."* 

*Volo Pater ut ubi Ego sum, illic sit et minister Meus. 
2John xii. 26. ^Id. xvii. 24. "^2 Tim. iii. 17. 



150 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

All this clearly appertains to the interior 
life and the contemplative element and im- 
plies a certain development of the habit of 
divine charity within the soul, whereby the 
heart's preference and inmost love are given 
above all to God and divine things. But is 
not all this proper to every consecrated soul, 
whether in the priestly or the Religious life ? 
Wherein will be found our consecration if 
we are forever giving our thoughts and 
affections to the accidental externals of our 
natural activity? And acts make habits. 
And lower habits shut out higher ones. We 
must train ourselves from the beginning of 
our Religious and priestly career. We must 
voluntarily choose Our Lord God above all 
at the outset of our conversion. And year 
by year, at every new stage, at every retreat, 
every anniversary, on all the great festivals, 
at every time of exposition, yea, and why not 
at every Mass and mental prayer? — renew 
again and again our consecration and our 
resolution to be ''all for God,'' seizing upon 
the principle of divine charity within us and 
resolving to live and work by it in all the 
works of daily life, in union with our divine 
Lord, our blessed Lady, the angels, the 
saints, and all the living Church, thus setting 
ourselves on the one great reality and sac- 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 151 

rificing lesser things that are not subject 
to the perfect law, neither can they be. 
Training ourselves thus in the higher prin- 
ciple, it will gradually form into habit; and 
higher attachments loosen those that are 
lower. As the Apostle says: ''Walk in the 
spirit and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the 
flesh.^^^ Then to the loving soul comes the 
divine Lover. As Our Lord says, ''We will 
come to him, and make our abode with 
him."^ Thus is the man of God formed, liv- 
ing and working as a true priest, in union 
with Our Lord, spreading the "odour of life 
unto life" around him: not being drawn 
down by creatures, but drawing them up- 
ward to God. "Placed midway," says the 
Angelic Doctor, "between God and men ; re- 
ceiving from God in contemplation, giving 
to the people by action."^ 

As philosophy tells us that the operations 
of a being follow its nature, so a true man 
of God works among the people the works 
of God ; and by the same law one not yet re- 
formed according to God, and not yet under 
the governance of the spirit of God, yet withal 
having good natural powers, will be found 
working according to his own natural activ- 

*Gal. V. 16. *John xiv. 23. 

•Utpote qui medii sunt inter Deum et plebem, etc. 3 Sent. 
D. 35. A. 3-q. 3. 



152 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

ities. Truly in the realm of grace, in things 
appertaining to faith, hope, charity, and the 
supernatural order, souls want the divine 
governance. They get it, indeed, through 
the science of the Church, but the human 
spirit easily mixes and mingles with divine 
things, unless nature be in due subordina- 
tion to grace. Thus the Apostle, ''What man 
knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit 
of a man that is in him ? So the things that 
are of God no man knoweth, but the spirit 
of God. The spiritual man judgeth all 
things; and he himself is judged by no 
man.''^ We have but to look at the long his- 
tory of the Church these eighteen centuries 
to see how lamentably the human spirit 
brings its miseries into the Church's divinest 
workings, even to the defeating of the divine 
spirit. See how Arianism infected the 
Church's very life. And all the heresies are 
the offspring of the human spirit, refusing 
subjection to the spirit of God. So it is in 
the moral and spiritual orders. The natural 
man is far nowadays from subdued to the 
spirit of God. Not living and working by 
the principle of divine love under the gov- 
ernance of the Holy Ghost, he is necessarily 
on the lower line of his own natural activi- 

^i Cor. ii. II, 15. 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 153 

ties ; and if the higher love be not his moving 
power, the lower love will be. Thus it is that 
disorders come into sacred works; that im- 
perfections and even habitual faults, unruly- 
ways, and so many shortcomings are ap- 
parent both in public and private duties. We 
are taught that perfection is in our ordinary 
actions, viz., in doing them well, and with the 
right spirit within. This is just what is 
wanting. Things are not well done. Punc- 
tuality is not seen to. A way of hurrying 
through things is ever observable, not ex- 
cepting even the Mass and the Divine 
Offices. An act is only once done. How sad 
not to do it well. If perfection is in ordinary 
actions, they should be the constant study 
of our life. Hence the saying. Age quod 
agis — what you are doing, that attend to, 
and do it well. Let words be pronounced — 
let ceremonies be reverent. Let the Mass 
be ever in the first place, as the greatest act 
on earth. Let cleanliness reign in the sanc- 
tuary, and above all in the tabernacle, and 
all the sacred vessels. Let every movement 
around the altar bespeak faith in the pres- 
ence of Our Lord. If we act by principles 
of grace, it will be so. If it is not so, it is 
because we act by the ways of unreformed 
nature. The same will be applicable to all 



154 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

other details, whether in regard to God, our 
neighbour, or ourselves. 

But the spirit within, it is, that moves us 
to the due fulfilment and perfection of our 
outer works. The outside depends on the 
inside. This is why from the outset of our 
training we have to live and work from the 
strong principle of love within, the infused 
divine charity, that it may gather force from 
exercise and develop by use, then it becomes, 
under the spirit of God, the governing 
power of all our actions. This is the real 
thing, and without the spirit within we are 
as ''a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." 
Thus the Apostle bows his knees to the 
Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that He 
would grant us ''to be strengthened by His 
spirit with might unto the inward man."^ 

Many are the children of the Church, not 
finding a vocation to Holy Orders, yet withal 
having many gifts of nature and grace, with 
abilities of communicating knowledge and 
aid to others, and the spirit of love to God 
and their neighbour within them. Much 
may be done by these, both men and women, 
for God's love and service, the benefit of the 
Church, and the manifold needs, spiritual 

^Eph. iii. i6. 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 155 

and temporal, of our fellow-creatures. The 
Church needs the co-operation of her faith- 
ful children. Many a work can they do in a 
true apostolic spirit. What services have 
they rendered to the Church in the long cen- 
turies of her bygone history! Was it not 
largely the faithful laity in Arian times who 
stood ''strong in faith/' while bishops and 
priests were tottering? St. Hilary said of 
them, 'The ears of the people are holier than 
the lips of the pastors."^ "Matters have 
come to this pass," says St. Basil, "that the 
people leave the churches and assemble in 
deserts/'^ "Excepting few of the pastors,'' 
said St. Gregory Nazienzen, "all tempor- 
ised."^ Newman also tells us, "It was the 
Christian people who, under Providence, 
were the strength of Athanasius, Hilary, 
Eusebius of Vercellae, and other great con- 
fessors, who would have failed without 
them."^ It must be admitted that the people 
are vastly what the pastors make them. Of 
the pastors Our Lord said : "You are the salt 
of the earth" and the "light of the world." 
How much the holiness of a man of God tells 
upon the people ! What will they not become 
if he is as a true alter Christus in the midst 

^Ad Constant, iv. ^Orat. xxi. 

^Epist. ccxlii. '^"Arians," Appendix, note v. 



156 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

of them — if he ever holds up to them, by 
word and example, the high ideal of Chris- 
tian and priestly life? But if he is as one of 
themselves, living among them on their own 
level, keeping and not changing the common 
habits of the world, where is the savour of 
the salt and the light divine among the 
people ? 

Individual men and women have often tal- 
ents of the first order, as thinkers, poets, 
writers, philosophers, journalists, novelists, 
controversiaHsts, historians, and the rest. 
What is ever wanted in conjunction with 
natural talent is the life of divine faith and 
charity, giving the right spirit within, and 
the governance of divine discretion. How 
much may such as these do in the true apos- 
tolic spirit for God, the Church, and souls! 
In the temporal order of things, too, how 
much may be done directly or indirectly in 
the same way by good-living, religious- 
minded, practical, Catholic noblemen, states- 
men, professional men, business men, 
fathers of families, and workmen, who to 
the daily works of life, each in his own state 
and calling, join the true inner life of faith 
and love and thus have a real apostolate in 
the midst of the world! They are all co- 
operators with the Church in her apostolic 
work. Finally, there are countless hidden 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 157 

and loving souls, having a large share of the 
Church's living spirit within, engaged with 
Our Lord, our Lady, and St. Joseph in the 
hidden and most sacred duties of daily life, 
many of these duties so divine in their na- 
ture, such as those called to Religious, en- 
closed, and contemplative life, are constantly 
engaged in — the daily Mass and the Di- 
vine Offices of the Church — much mental 
and vocal prayer, and all this joined to a life 
of detachment, obedience, and constant self- 
denial, and mortification. The apostolic 
spirit may well enter into all such lives by 
oifering the whole course of life, day by day 
and hour by hour, with all Masses and offices 
throughout the world, in union with our 
divine Lord, our blessed Lady, all the angels 
and saints, and the whole living Church, for 
God's own great ends and the vast needs of 
souls, for the conversion of the heathen, 
heretics, and bad Catholics, for the power of 
the Church against her persecutors, for the 
Holy Father, the bishops and priests of the 
Church, that all may be men of God, labour- 
ing with true apostolic spirit for the con- 
version of the evil and sinful world, for the 
hundred thousand that are dying day by day, 
that they may turn to God by faith, hope, 
love, and contrition, and for all the holy souls 
in purgatory. 



158 THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

And not only consecrated souls, but all 
loving souls in every state of life in the 
world, may co-operate with the Church and 
share her apostolic spirit, by offering the 
Mass with priests and people for all these 
great ends. Let them say the Angelus 
thrice a day, in its three parts, for the con- 
version of the three great classes of sinners, 
the heathen, heretics, and bad Catholics : and 
let them see how each of the three parts is 
so suitable in its words to each of the three 
classes — the first part (with its Hail Mary) 
announcing the incarnation for all unbeliev- 
ers in the great mystery. The second part, 
and its Hail Mary, giving our Lady's sub- 
mission, for the heretics, who do not submit. 
The third part in like manner declaring Our 
Lord's presence in our midst, for bad Cath- 
olics, who do not go to Him and love Him. 
Here is the apostolic spirit in hidden and 
humble life. And by daily Masses, com- 
munions, benedictions. Church offices, ros- 
aries, and devotions, souls may be united 
with the Church's work constantly going on 
all the world over. Further, many oppor- 
tunities come, both to men and women, of 
working directly for the spiritual benefit of 
their fellow-creatures, in various ways, 
whether at home or for far distant foreign 
missions, and this is apostolic work. At 



THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 159 

home they may help in classes, and clubs, 
confraternities, visiting the poor and sick, 
instructing the ignorant, rescuing children 
and sinners, helping the dying, assisting in 
hospitals, aiding priests in their sick calls, 
attending to the many requirements of 
Church and sacristy. Nor will it be difficult 
to develop devotion to foreign missions, since 
the requirements of missionaries are so nu- 
merous. They need money, they want their 
missions written up in Catholic periodicals. 
They want young priests educating, and 
many helping hands for women and chil- 
dren in heathen parts. They need altars, 
and tabernacles, and sacred vessels, and 
candlesticks, and altar-cloths, corporals, 
purificators, many prayer-books, catechisms, 
missals, spiritual books, historical and con- 
troversial works. Those who have means 
may provide many of these things. Others 
with needle and thread may do much. Some 
zealous lay folk whose time is their own even 
go forth to the foreign mission field and co- 
operate with priests in the vast spiritual and 
corporal needs of the people in those distant 
regions. Let us remember St. Paul's words, 
^'We are God's coadjutors" '} and let us re- 
member that the great principle of God's 
love has to be the working power of our life, 

^i Cor. iii. 9. 



i6o THE APOSTOLIC SPIRIT 

and has to overflow in love to our neighbour. 
God's plan is to use His creatures in distrib- 
uting His gifts. Therefore in saving and 
sanctifying other souls He wills that His 
creatures co-operate with Him. All, indeed, 
have not the same powers, either intellectu- 
ally, morally, spiritually, or physically. But 
let all use the powers they have in loving 
both God and their neighbour. Prayer itself 
is a great power, because it entreats God, 
and God lets Himself be entreated. There- 
fore those who have but small powers of 
action may have great powers of prayer. Is 
not the Mass our daily prayer — Our Lord's 
prayer for us and all mankind ? May not all 
the children of the Church use it, and offer it 
daily with Our Lord and His priests for the 
conversion of souls to God? And so with 
the Divine Offices of the Church, rosaries, 
stations, and the rest. The Apostle St. 
James says : 'Tray one for another, that you 
may be saved. The continual prayer of a 
just man availeth much."^ 

Thus in one way or another all may culti- 
vate the apostolic spirit, either by prayer or 
action, or both together, according to re- 
spective states, abilities, opportunities, and 
the rules of sound discretion. 

* James v. i6. 



XII 
Intellectual Culture 

Tt seems to be very desirable in early years 
to be impressed with the truth that both 
our time and faculties are exceedingly lim- 
ited, and that therefore we must necessarily 
choose but a few things on which to engage 
ourselves during life here below, wisely leav- 
ing all the rest. None have power to become 
men of universal knowledge. When trees 
are loaded with plums it is found that the 
fruit, from being overabundant, is poor in 
quality, insipid in taste, and unwholesome if 
used — the very thing, in fact, to disagree 
with the system. So also it may be said that 
if we get into the way of dividing our 
thoughts upon a vast number of objects, we 
may possibly acquire a surface knowledge 
of several things, and yet not attain to thor- 
ough knowledge in anything. St. Thomas 
tells us that our knowledge is so very short 
that no philosopher has ever been able per- 
fectly to investigate the nature of even one 
fly ! And that we read of a certain sage who 
lived thirty years in solitude, that he might 
be able to know the nature of a bee !^ 

^Opusc. de Symbol. Apost., c. ii. 
i6i 



i62 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

Christian doctrine tells us of the twofold 
life within us, that of nature and that of 
grace. Both have to be provided for. The 
natural intellect must be cultivated if we 
wish to be abreast of the work of life. And 
the life of grace must be maintained, 
strengthened, and brought to its perfection 
sooner or later, that we may be fitted for the 
everlasting life hereafter. If we propose to 
order our lives according to God, nature will 
have to be subordinate to grace, and their 
various powers directed in ordine ad finem. 
The life of grace does not extinguish the 
life of nature : nor does faith extinguish in- 
tellect: nor the love of God natural love. 
But the work of perfection regulates and 
harmonises all for the tranquillity of order. 

We are not here considering the millions 
who live outside Christianity and Catholi- 
cism. "These having not the law, are a law 
to themselves; who show the work of the 
law written in their hearts, their conscience 
bearing witness to them.'^^ The light of 
reason is the light of God to each one of 
them. Many of them have had and have 
marvellous intellectual power. Athens has 
been a centre of intellectual light to the world 
since the days of the Grecian sages and philos- 

>Rom. ii. 14. 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 163 

ophers, and doubtless will be to the end. They 
were men of natural contemplation, as the 
saints have been in the supernatural order: 

Across two thousand years their faces smile 

Upon us, with a still refreshing calm, 
Rebuking us, that for the little while 
We last, we turn away from life\s true 
halm. 
To follow care, and strife, and restless 
guile} 

But looking now at the children of the 
Church, ^'in the make and the making of 
ourselves,'' considering life's possibilities ; 
what we are, and what we may be, if we will 
live according to our best knowledge, we 
may affirm that humanity is an inheritance — 
something given to us; or an estate, which 
we are bound to improve; and that a char- 
acter without discipline is mere anarchy.^ 
Thus we come to self-training and discipline. 
With Christian and Catholic instinct we 
must begin with God and divine things. As 
soon as we come to the use of reason, divine 
knowledge and love are given to us as our 
end. And before all things the end must be 
considered. What seaman will ever start 
his ship without knowing the port to which 

Uas. Knowles. 'Dr. Barry, Prsef. "Structure of life." 



i64 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

he is destined? According to the end our 
course has to be directed, as in the things 
of nature, so in those of grace. 

This being premised, nature and grace 
proceed in their education together. God 
is the God of nature as well as of grace. 
Everything great, good, and beautiful in 
nature, grace, and glory is ''of Him, by Him, 
and in Him.''^ Accordingly, let each one 
make the very best he can of his natural 
powers : for seeing that grace is grafted on 
nature, the better the natural powers be- 
come, so much the better for our spiritual 
powers. How much of the priestly and Re- 
ligious character will depend on the char- 
acter of the natural man! Let him train 
himself to the best habits, physical, moral, 
and intellectual, and they pave the way to 
the best habits of the priest, the Religious, 
and the spiritual man. Habits also proper to 
the inward life of grace have to keep pace 
with the formation of the natural habits: 
lest nature, from being indulged, get over- 
strong in her ways, and the powers of grace 
decline from want of use. This means to 
say, for instance, that from early years the 
practice of mental prayer should go with in- 
tellectual cultivation. Thus Newman says: 

^Rom. xi. 36. 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 165 

"Nature and man are our studies. But God 
is higher than all. It is easy to lose Him in 
His works. The knowledge of sun, moon, 
and stars, of the earth and its kingdoms, of 
the classics or of history will never bring us 
to heaven."^ 

Taking it, however, for granted now that 
grace and nature are both being well at- 
tended to, no doubt the cultivation of classi- 
cal knowledge will do much to elevate, 
strengthen, and refine the nature. Athens 
and Rome, as we know, have produced the 
immortals of classic literature : and the great 
Fathers and doctors of the Church have 
known, loved, and used the gifts of natural 
light and wisdom shed upon mankind 
through them by the bountiful hand of Prov- 
idence. The gifts of God in nature are as 
apparent as His gifts in grace. His light 
and beauty have descended on the world in 
the order of nature through Homer, yEschy- 
lus, Plato, Horace, Cicero, and Seneca, as 
in the order of grace they have come through 
the Fathers, doctors, and saints. Therefore, 
let God be ever admired and loved in the 
works of His hand. Omnis spiritus laudet 
Dominum. In nature, grace, and glory He 
is ''above all, and through all, and in us all."^ 

*Serm. ii., "Various occasions." *Eph. iv. 6. 



i66 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

We know, indeed, that the laws of nature 
meet us everywhere. If we indulge a pro- 
pensity, we strengthen it. If we neglect it, 
we weaken it. Thus a constant attention to 
the classics will develop more and more the 
appreciation and love of them. If this lead 
us in any way to neglect our spirituality we 
shall suffer here from want of the higher 
use and exercise. All along the line nature 
needs governing by grace. If this amount of 
self-discipline is not attended to, it is inev- 
itable that the life of grace will be at a dis- 
advantage. And acts make habits. And 
consequences are God's commentaries. The 
same line of thought will apply equally to 
the classics of our own language. Not only 
they supply us with rare and elevated 
thoughts, but every word is exact ; lines and 
sentences in exquisite measure ; and by care- 
ful observation of thought, language, and 
rhythm all whose object is to think, speak, 
and write well may help themselves vastly 
and effectively in their future course; and 
all the more if their study of these masters 
of thought and language is well maintained. 
And yet, let it be said, a passion for poetry 
and light literature must not be admitted by 
those whose project it is to maintain the 
supremacy of grace. The imagination makes 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 167 

a good servant, but a bad master. There- 
fore the higher faculties of intellect and 
heart have to be considered first — the lower 
powers being brought into the service of the 
higher. Evidently, without self-training and 
discipline we shall never come to the tran- 
quillity of order. 

The study of Holy Scripture from early 
years should enter at once into our intel- 
lectual and spiritual training. For what is 
more valuable and desirable both to mind 
and heart than to listen to the Word of God, 
in view to the doing thereof? Let it be 
known, however, from the outset that the 
inspired Scripture is addressed rather to the 
heart than the understanding. ''What man 
knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit 
of a man that is in him ? So the things that 
are of God no man knoweth, but the spirit 
of God."^ "The sensual man perceiveth not 
these things that are of the spirit of God; 
for it is foolishness to him, and he can not 
understand.'^^ It is a heart right with God 
that gives the disposition for the right un- 
derstanding of the Word of God. ''God 
makes Himself known to those who sincerely 
seek Him. Yet He hides His words in such 
a way that He may not be perceived but by 

*i Cor. ii. II. ^Id. v. 14. 



i68 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

those who seek Him with all their heart. "^ 
Thus Pascal expresses it: ''Holy Scripture 
is not a science of the mindy but of the heart, 
and is unintelligible save to those whose 
heart is right. All others find in it darkness 
only.^'^ This is why non-Catholic critics 
have not the first element wherewith to un- 
derstand the inspired Word. They have not 
the light of God within them. And ''as the 
sacred writings are the work of the Holy 
Ghost, the words conceal a number of truths 
which far surpass the strength and penetra- 
tion of the human reason.''^ "We are as 
worms in the abyss of divine works. Myri- 
ads upon myriads of years would it take, 
were our hearts ever so religious, and our 
intellects ever so apprehensive, to receive the 
just impression of those works as they really 
are. But sooner than that we should know 
nothing, God has condescended to speak to 
us, so far as human thought and language 
will admit, hy approximations, in order to 
give us practical rules for our conduct, 
amidst His infinite and eternal operations.''^ 
"Seeing that God has given the Scriptures 
to the Church, no one should undertake their 
study in his own independent spirit/'^ in mat- 

^From Pascal. ■* Newman, Univ. Serm. xii. 

^Ibid. ^ ^Leo xiii. sup. 

'Leo xiii., Encyc. S. Scrip. 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 169 

ters concerning doctrine. For the natural 
man "perceiveth not these things that are of 
the spirit of God/^ But the Church has the 
promise of the Holy Ghost. And ''the things 
that are of God no man knoweth, but the 
spirit of God." It is the independent spirit 
that has brought forth all the heresies that 
have afflicted the Church from the begin- 
ning. But in matters of devotion and in- 
ward spirit those whose hearts are right with 
God, who live in contact with the good Spirit, 
and whose work here below is to progress 
constantly in the way to God, will delight in 
recognising the lights that come from love, 
as the words of Holy Scripture fall from 
the good Spirit on their souls. And so in- 
finitely rich and adapted to the souls of men 
are the resources of the Holy Spirit, in the 
ways of His wisdom and love, that by the 
same inspired words He teaches many 
things, and allows us liberty of spirit in ap- 
plying their meaning to our varied needs. 
Thus some love to study the literal sense of 
the words, as being communications of God's 
light to the world. Others like to observe 
analogies between nature and grace ; and be- 
tween the workings of God among His people 
of old and those prefigured by them in the 
new law. The spiritual senses of Holy Writ, 



170 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

more especially in the Sapiential books, the 
Psalms, Job, so many texts of the Prophets, 
and all the gospels and epistles, are very 
deep, varied, and soul-satisfying. And some 
there are, cultivating more and more the 
inner spirit, who, after St. Augustine, Hil- 
ton, and others, delight in finding God's love 
in all His words. Thus St. Augustine : ''In 
what you understand in Holy Scripture, 
charity is clearly seen. In what you under- 
stand not, charity lies hid. So that by hold- 
ing to charity you hold both to that which 
is seen and that which is hidden in the divine 
Word."^ And Hilton : ''By pouring His wis- 
dom into a clean soul God maketh it wise; 
giving it a new ability and a gracious habit 
to understand the words and sentences of 
Holy Writ, unsought and unconsidered. For 
the lover of God is His friend: and there- 
fore to him He sheweth His secrets, as to a 
true friend that pleaseth Him by love. And 
the soul findeth the heavenly sense of Scrip- 
ture, which belongeth only to the working 
of love, and that is when all truth in Holy 
Writ is applied to love."^ 

"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.'' 
It is wisdom's work to direct our knowledge 
to life's proper end. We are not to know 

*Serm. 350 de laude Carit. * Scale lii. 13. 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 171 

for the sake of knowing, but in view of 
ordering our powers to God's love and 
service. 

Divine philosophy: by whose pure light 
We first distinguish, then pursue the right. 

Seeing life's labyrinthian ways, how 
necessary it is to recognise the right, to dis- 
tinguish and to choose between many good 
things, not to take darkness for light, nor 
light for darkness, then to pursue the right 
when we see it. But how shall we arrange 
our capabilities of knowledge? It does not 
follow because we like a thing we should do 
it. Did not Adam and Eve do the thing be- 
cause they liked it ? We must learn the dis- 
cipline of the understanding. Every one who 
chooses a state of life has to equip himself 
with the knowledge appertaining thereto. 
All the world acknowledges this. Thus it is 
that lawyers, physicians, builders, farmers, 
army, navy, railway men, and the rest, have 
each their own proper knowledge to acquire 
and cultivate. No one can compass knowl- 
edge of every kind. But each must see to 
the knowledge of his state. So it is with 
those in the Religious and ecclesiastical state. 
And simple Christian and Catholic life have 



172 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

their proper knowledge. It is epitomised in 
the Catechism. And all who cultivate Chris- 
tian, Catholic, and spiritual life should make 
it their business and pleasure to add to the 
proper knowledge of their state of life, what- 
ever it be, the knowledge according to their 
abilities, and what appertains at once to the 
cultivation of the natural, the Christian, the 
Catholic, and the spiritual man. Does not 
the poet say that ''the proper study of man- 
kind is man''? This will lead us to a wise 
and ordered study of the classics and phi- 
losophy, which fit in well with every state 
of life, and in course of time ''bring the 
philosophic mind,'' that has so much to do 
with life's content. Indeed, as Plato says, 
"until philosophers are kings and the rulers 
of this world have the spirit and power of 
philosophy, and greatness and wisdom meet 
in one, cities and peoples will never cease 
from ill.'" 

As the love of the Scriptures is bound up 
with the cultivation of the Christian spirit, 
so the love of the divine science of the 
Church in dogmatic, moral, ascetic, and 
mystical theology is bound up with the culti- 
vation of the Catholic, religious, and eccle- 
siastical spirit. All such science is the proper 

»Repub. 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 173 

study of churchmen. And in the other states 
of life all who aim at cultivating Catholic 
and spiritual life may easily develop a taste 
for dogmatic and moral study, each accord- 
ing to abilities and drawings, and may and 
should find a real love for spiritual and 
ascetic literature; and all in view to the do- 
ing as well as the knowing; seeing that be- 
fore all things the end is to be considered, 
and according to the end our course has to 
be directed. A special love for the writings 
of the Holy Fathers and doctors of the 
Church should be kept up through life by 
those of the priestly and Religious state, as 
handing down through the centuries the tra- 
ditions of Christian doctrine and spirituality. 
And all who have a clear and solid system 
of spiritual life, grounded on Our Lord's 
words, and the teaching of the inspired 
writers, will naturally delight in finding the 
great principles so grandly dealt with by 
St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. 
John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and the 
Fathers of the Desert — then taken up and so 
luminously set forth by St. Bernard, St. 
Thomas, St. Bonaventure, Denis the Car- 
thusian, and the doctors and saints, and 
handed down to our own times by so vast a 
number of spiritual writers. Is it not sad to 



174 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

be ignorant of all these treasures of Holy 
Mother Church, and have the taste running 
instead in light worldly literature? News- 
papers, novels, reviews, and illustrated 
monthlies run away largely with time and 
mental energy. Granted that some amount 
of time has to be given to them, it should be 
observed that such a taste quickly strength- 
ens and develops into habit ; and lower habits 
easily shut out the higher. Anyhow, higher 
habits ought to counterbalance the lower. 
The pity is to find those with large and con- 
stant appetite for the lower and little or 
none for the higher. To indulge the propen- 
sity is to strengthen it, either way. Much 
reading of a light sort whets the appetite for 
more and more. And with little or no 
thoughtful study of higher things, the desire 
thereof soon dies out. As Our Lord says: 
''He that hath, shall abound ; but he that hath 
not, from him shall be taken even that which 
he hath."' 

In studying the Fathers, however, of 
course, there is the modus in rebus. New- 
man, in his early life, tells us that he studied 
them "chronologically." Only a few experts 
will find time or inclination for this. But 
many there are, especially ecclesiastics and 

^Matt. xiii. 12. 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 175 

Religious, ever maintaining as they should 
their love of divine science, who, by means 
of the index to the works, will be able to 
refer to the subjects of their study, 
then to take their notes and affix the 
reference thereto for future use. How 
much and how many exquisite passages 
on the subject of divine charity have we 
been able thus to annex to our little rep- 
ertoires ! 

The study of history may be said to belong 
to all states of life, seeing that the proper 
study of mankind is man. Ancient history, 
modern history. Church history, and the his- 
tory of our own country, as also the philos- 
ophy of history, are important factors in in- 
dividual education. But few have time for 
large historical researches. Yet they may 
fairly cultivate the historical taste and know 
where to refer to when need be. Needless to 
say, all practical Christians and those in 
priestly and Religious life will enjoy the lives 
of the saints and holy souls, as bringing be- 
fore us the practice of Christianity and spir- 
ituality, as distinct from the abstract. And 
the reflection of St. John Chrysostom will 
easily occur as we read, that ^'we also may 
be what they were if we do what they did." 
The Gospel gives us Christianity in its ideal ; 



176 INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 

the saints' lives give it in practice. The 
workings of men and nations at the present 
day are before us in the newspapers : and we 
may look upon it as among our duties to be 
fairly au courant with the progress of the 
world. This may be done on principle, with- 
out wasting precious time on needless read- 
ing, or reading worse than useless; seeing 
that all our works should be in ordine ad 
finem. 

As we are so vastly creatures of habit, it 
becomes necessary for all who are drawn 
largely to intellectual culture to counterbal- 
ance the activity of the mind by due culti- 
vation of the heart. As an old spiritual 
writer says, "Love alone attains to God ; but 
thought or understanding, never'': which 
agrees with St. Paul, si habuero omnem 
scientiam, etc. Time and faculties are so 
limited: and it will never do to be all intel- 
lect and no heart. Both the great powers are 
talents committed to us, and each must be 
used well and turned to good account. More- 
over, for true Christianity, and a fortiori 
for Religious and spiritual life, we have to 
be under the governance of the Holy Ghost ; 
and this comes not from any amount of nat- 
ural intellectual activity, but from the right 
spirit within, and the heart ''according to 



INTELLECTUAL CULTURE 177 

God/' Cor mundum crea in me Deus; et 
spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meisJ'^ 
''Show me, O Lord, Thy ways, and teach me 
Thy paths/'" 



iPs. 1. 12. *Ps. xxiv. 4. 



XIII 

Spiritual Culture 

*]Dew there seem to be who fully open to 
life's divine possibilities. Yet the 
Church's first lesson was that we have been 
made to the image and likeness of God : and 
thus are capable of a divine life within. Not 
that we can get it by any natural power of 
our own. But we must be ''born again.'^ 
'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and 
that which is born of the spirit is spirit. You 
must be born again. ''^ We have received the 
new life at Baptism — the life of grace. Thus 
we have a twofold life within us — the life of 
nature and the life of grace. 

As nature has her powers for the works 
of natural life, so grace has her pow- 
ers for the works of spiritual life. The three 
principal powers of nature are understand- 
ing, memory, and will. The three principal 
powers of grace are faith, hope, and charity. 
As we take care of our natural powers, we 
must take care of our spiritual powers. As 
we use the natural powers, we must use the 

*John iii. 6. 
178 



SPIRITUAL CULTURE 179 

spiritual powers. As we cultivate the one, 
we must cultivate the other. If we use our 
natural powers, they strengthen : if we neg- 
lect to use them, they weaken. So, if we 
exercise our faith, hope, and charity, we 
strengthen the divine life within us. If we 
neglect to use them, our spirituality weakens, 
and nature, from being indulged, gets the 
upper hand. Hence the lifelong warfare be- 
tween nature and grace. "If you live ac- 
cording to the flesh, you shall die : but if, by 
the spirit, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, 
you shall live."^ ''Walk in the spirit; and 
you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."^ 
As though he said, "Live according to the 
higher life, and by the power of faith and 
love you will subdue the inclinations of the 
natural man.'' 

The life of faith tells us of the unseen 
world around and above us — the presence of 
God in all the works of nature and grace, the 
wondrous sacramental presence of the Word 
made flesh, and ever dwelling in our midst, 
offering Himself for love of God and men 
day and night on all the altars of the world ; 
and giving Himself to us, one by one, in 
the sacrament of His love, for the food and 
nourishment of our souls. It tells us, too, 

*Rom. viii. 13. ^Gal. v. 16. 



i8o SPIRITUAL CULTURE 

of the presence of angels and saints, and 
their co-operation with God in the works of 
human life. And it tells us of the Holy 
Ghost working in the Church by His truth 
and love, and in all souls individually by the 
hidden operations of His grace, and through 
the whole sacramental system. The gift and 
grace of hope keeps us in lifelong trust to 
the goodness of God and the riches of His 
mercies, which are "over all His works,"^ 
and to the immense merits of Our Lord ; see- 
ing that ''He is the propitiation for our sins, 
and not for ours only, but for those of the 
whole world."^ He has placed His promises 
in His Church, as He made His covenant 
with His chosen people of old : and herein we 
have the assurance of divine truth and grace 
in the Church's teaching and sacraments. 
But God ''has nowhere said that He will not 
extend His mercies wider than His prom- 
ises.''^ Thus many good souls outside the 
body of the Church in good faith, with trust 
and love to God, and sorrow for sin, may be 
justified by "the uncovenanted mercies of 
God"; according to the words of St. Peter, 
"in every nation he that feareth Him, and 
worketh justice, is acceptable to Him."* 

*Ps. cxliv. 9. 'i John ii. 2. 

3 Newman, Serm. "Faith and Experience.*' ^Acts x. 35. 



SPIRITUAL CULTURE i8i 

Again, many tender souls are over-anxious 
about sins confessed or forgotten. Let them 
remember that love and contrition are of 
themselves purifying to the soul: and that 
Our Lord^s sacred merits in the sacrifice of 
the Mass directly purify from sins, in the 
case of those who may have such hidden and 
forgotten, yet have no will to keep them in 
the heart, this applying not only to smaller 
sins, but grave ones. 

Such is the teaching of the Church in the 
Council of Trent, as follows : 

'^Venial sins, though they may be con- 
fessed, yet without fault they may remain 
unconfessed and be expiated by other rem- 
edies."^ And inasmuch as in the Mass 
''Christ is contained and mystically immo- 
lated, so this holy sacrifice is truly propitia- 
tory, so that if herein we turn to God with 
true faith, love, and reverence — contrite and 
penitent — we hereby obtain His mercy and 
grace. For Our Lord God, appeased by this 
oblation, granting the grace of penance, for- 
gives us even great sins;''^ and, further, 
"gives us the remission of those sins we daily 
commit.''^ And when we receive the Holy 

^Conc. Trid. Sess. xiv. c. v. 

^Peccata etiam ingentia dimittit. Id. s. xxii, c. ii. 
2 In remissionem eorum, quae a nobis quotidie committun- 
tur, peccatorum. Id. c. i. 



i82 SPIRITUAL CULTURE 

Communion "we are delivered from venial 
sins and preserved from mortal sins/'^ 

Add to this the teaching of the Angelic 
Doctor on the purifying power of love. "God 
accepts rather the love of the heart than 
external acts. But by external acts a soul 
is freed from both sin and penalty. There- 
fore in like manner it is freed by the love 
of the heart. Thus, contrition rising from 
love may avail to free the soul both from 
guilt and punishment.''^ 

All this proceeds from God's goodness, 
Our Lord's merits, and a loving and contrite 
heart. It is all the exercise of the virtue of 
hope. How salutary to the spiritual life it 
is to have full confidence in it all, as the clear 
teaching of the Word of God and of the 
Church, with a corresponding diffidence in 
ourselves and our own imperfect views. 
Souls are detained, held back, and impeded 
in their spiritual course by not taking the 
straight way of love, contrition, and the 
Mass. And acts make habits. Their habits 
are those of fear, and multiplied examens 
and confessions of venials and miseries. 
Thus they live in their "mournful lurking 
holes," and rise not to the light of divine 
contemplation. All this contains vastly help- 

IS. xiii. c. ii. ^Svn^^l Q. 5, A. 2. 



SPIRITUAL CULTURE 183 

ful lessons for the work of spiritual culture. 
But let us be doers of the Word and not 
hearers only. Let us beware of our own nat- 
ural fancies and activities. God is the prin- 
cipal worker in the works of grace, as in 
those of nature ; and Ave must work in all ac- 
cording to Him. The habitual exercise of 
faith and hope lead on to the chief of all fac- 
tors in spiritual life and culture, the greatest 
of the theological and of all the virtues, 
divine charity. Let us ever remember that 
this not only means the love of God above 
all things, but it means the mutual love be- 
tween the soul and God — God loving us and 
we loving Him. He thinking of us and we 
of Him. He abiding with us and we with 
Him. He working with us and we with 
Him. He enjoying Himself with us and we 
enjoying ourselves with Him.^ And it ever 
means in its practical working charity at 
once affective and effective; that is, the inner 
life of love disposed to outward acts and 
working both for God and our neighbour, in 

^Caritas non solum significat amorem Dei, sed etiam 
amicitiam quandam ad Ipsam; quae quidem super amorem 
addit mutuam redamationem cum quadam communicatione 
mutua. Et quod hoc ad caritatem pertineat patet per id, 
"Qui manet in caritate in Deo manet, et Deus in eo." 
I John iv. Haec autem societas hominis ad Deum, quae est 
quaedam familiaris conversatio cum Ipso, inchoatur quidem 
hie in praesenti per gratiam, perficietur autem in futuro per 
gloriam. St. Thom. i. 2. Q. 65. A. 5. 



i84 SPIRITUAL CULTURE 

all the different callings of life, according 
to individual abilities and opportunities. 
Affective charity is the sweet, inward, abid- 
ing habit, uniting God and the soul together 
in the life of mutual love. It implies the 
choice and preference of Our Lord God 
above all things. It sees Him in all the 
works of His hand, in nature, grace, and 
glory. It realises Him as the one and only 
Good, as Our Lord says, ''None is good but 
God alone.''^ And it sees all other creatures 
as the recipients of His goodness. All this 
is truth and light. And ''God is light ; and in 
Him there is no darkness.^'^ This gradually 
brings a soul to the divine receptive dispo- 
sition, by which all its works, instead of 
being the offspring of natural activity, be- 
come the pourings of light, love, and power 
divine ; God and the soul ever working in all 
together. Qui Spiritu Dei agtmtur, ii sunt 
filii Dei.^ "He is above all, and through all, 
and in us all."^ "In Him we live and move 
and have our being.''^ "Of Him, and by 
Him, and in Him are all things.''^ "There 
are diversities of operations, but the same 
God, who worketh all in all."'^ 

See that river flowing so swiftly along! 

*Luke xviii. 19. '*Eph. iv. 6. *Rom. xi. 36. 

*i John i. 5. *Acts xvii. 28. "'i Cor. xii. 6. 

^Rom. viii. 14. 



SPIRITUAL CULTURE 185 

It carries all before it! But here, at the 
bank, is a twig, a cork, a number of dead 
leaves. They are outside the mighty flow. 
They do not go on. They flutter here and 
turn round and round the same way. These 
are figures of poor, weakly souls, that give 
themselves not up to God, that go not on 
with the flowings and pourings of the spirit 
of God. They are left behind. They have 
lost their spirit and enthusiasm in divine 
things. How sad not to give all in order 
to gain all ! 

The inward love of the soul under the gov- 
ernance of the Holy Ghost moves us to all 
the works of love in a thousand different 
ways, and this both to contemplative love 
and active love. As God Himself is the one, 
great, and only Good, and the Fountain of 
all goodness in His creatures, a loving soul 
naturally ''prefers the attendance on God 
before all external things.''^ And in the 
many different degrees and states of mental 
and contemplative prayer God and the soul 
are ever working together. Our Lord at 
Nazareth, with our Lady and St. Joseph, 
show us the beauty of the life hidden with 
Christ in God. The many passing externals 
in the midst of creatures are like the waves 

»Imit. iii. 53. 



i86 SPIRITUAL CULTURE 

of the sea, rising and falling, without any of 
them acquiring consistency. Let us ever 
hold to the one great reality. We are des- 
tined everlastingly for union with God by 
mutual love. Therefore the more we have 
of this here below the better. It ought alone 
to be soul-satisfying to us. And by the 
power of this inward love we are fitted in the 
best way for the accomplishment of outer 
acts, seeing that we work then in depen- 
dence on Him "who worketh all in all.^'^ 

Yet until the habit of habits is sufficiently 
formed within us nature's activities zvill 
continue to assert themselves. And although 
for ''the pearl of great price" all must be 
given, and although the higher love within 
says, ''Forsake all and thou shalt find all: 
leave thy desires and thou shalt find rest/'^ 
yet the liking and the desire for fleeting en- 
gagements and preferments, passing changes 
and activities, in the midst of pleasant works 
and people, enjoying a good share of notice, 
esteem, success, and satisfaction, easily en- 
twine the spirit, and some there are who 
can not reconcile themselves to live without 
these things. Yet, is not all vanity, besides 
loving God and serving Him alone? Must 
we not "throw our hearts into eternity^'? 

*i Cor. xii. 6. *Imit. iii. 32. 



SPIRITUAL CULTURE 187 

If we are ''all for God/' enjoying His pres- 
ence and the life of love with Him, and ever 
united with Our Lord and the Church in the 
work of souls, why should we not be ''free'' 
from these very fleeting accidentals? "The 
lover is free, and is not held. He gives all 
for all ; and has all in all ; because he rests in 
one sovereign Good above all. He looks not 
at the gifts, but turns himself to the Giver, 
above all goods. O my God, my Love, Thou 
art all mine, and I am all Thine.''^ 

All these are the workings of contem- 
plative love, and herein the soul must ever 
find its supreme satisfaction. Never will it 
do to be unsatisfied with divine things — to 
be dependent on externals for happiness. 
What will the divine Lover say if we are not 
fully satisfied with Him alone? Small won- 
der that He detaches us from pleasant work- 
ings, lest anything should engage our hearts 
independently of Himself. Thus, in times 
of trial, monotony, and sufifering we must 
go to Him alone. The sweetness of His 
presence, love, and service will be the true 
joy of our life; nor must we look for satis- 
faction elsewhere. 

Truly it is well said that when Our Lord 
wants us He will know where to find us. 

>Imit. iii. 5. 



i88 SPIRITUAL CULTURE 

And so when He wills He sends us forth 
from the works of affective to those of 
effective charity, for His own great ends and 
the vast needs of souls. As in all the works 
of nature and grace God Himself is ever the 
chief agent, so let Him ever arrange as He 
wills, distributing His gifts, fitting each one 
for his proper office and work, and using all 
according to the purpose of His will. 

How easily, indeed, the human spirit 
mixes and mingles with divine things! It 
must be so until the soul of man is subject 
to the spirit of God : Nonne Deo subjecta erit 
anima meaf^ Here we find the need of in- 
terior formation; for without care and self- 
discipline nature quickly goes her own way, 
and this from force of long habit. The 
higher habit must be called into use and be 
strengthened by exercise and brought under 
the governance of the good Spirit ; and then 
all the works of outer life proceed according 
to God, God and the soul ever working 
together. 

Then, as God wills, the whole course of 
life proceeds day by day, according to the 
divine providence and arrangements. Little 
does it matter to a soul thus united in love 
with God as to how the divine Lover may 

'Ps. Ixiv. I. 



SPIRITUAL CULTURE 189 

will to employ it. Why should it matter? 
Externals are but accidentals. God and the 
soul are together in all. This is the great 
essential, this the one great reality of life. 
Vanity of vanities ; and all is vanity, besides 
loving God, and serving Him alone. 



XIV 

TLbc Bfvlne HgencB of Creatures 

Tt is clearly according to God's own plan in 
both orders of nature and grace to use 
the agency of His creatures in the accom- 
plishment of His works. It seems wonder- 
fully condescending and loving of the Cre- 
ator thus to wish to associate His creatures 
with Himself, making them, indeed, so 
closely His coadjutors and co-creators, as 
though He delighted in pouring over them a 
share of His divine life and power, that they 
as well as He Himself might be known, loved, 
praised, and glorified, both in heaven and on 
earth. And thus speaking of men. He says : 
''You are gods, and all sons of the Most 
High.^'^ 

Truly, indeed, we must ever remember 
that the Creator is everything and the creat- 
ure nothing. But this ever goes without 
saying. It is fundamental Christian truth. 
It ever stands. No other teaching ever dis- 

>Ps. Ixxxi. 6. 
190 



DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 191 

places it. Thus the Creator is alone mag- 
nificent and glorious and the creature's glory 
is in its humility and nothingness. 

Let us first of all see the divine scheme 
in the wondrous works of nature. '^God is 
light; and in Him there is no darkness."^ 
Yet He wills to give us light in the natural 
order through the agency of the sun. He 
need not have done so, yet He wills to do so. 
And we admire the sun in its astonishing 
magnitude and power, governing, as it does, 
the vast family of worlds around it, keeping 
them steadily poised in space, whirling 
though they are in their orbits around it 
at the rate of a thousand miles a minute. 
God has put all this power in the sun: and 
through it and with it He governs the system 
of the worlds. ''How great are Thy works, 
O Lord ! Thou hast made all things in wis- 
dom: the whole earth is filled with Thy 
greatness."^ 

To the same stupendous orb the Creator 
commits the power of contributing warmth 
to the worlds around it. Without this 
warmth on earth death would inevitably fol- 
low. Imagine how things would fare on 
earth without the sun. Means of smaller 
warmth are found in earthly fires. But 

*i John i. 5. ^Ps. ciii. 24. 



192 DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 

small or great, God does not warm us Him- 
self, but through the agency of His sun, and 
of the coal and wood that He provides. Thus 
inhabitants of earth have not to cry, "O God, 
give me light and warmth," for God says, "I 
have given My light and warmth to sun, and 
coal, and wood ; go to them.'^ In like manner 
God frames materials for our food and 
clothing, and bids us go to the produce of 
the earth— to the herbs and fruits — in them 
He has placed the power of nourishing the 
human frame, and for clothing we may go 
to the beasts of the field, and through their 
skins sustain the warmth necessary for life. 
All are God's gifts, but through His ap- 
pointed creatures. 

Look at life itself here below and our 
wondrous powers of soul and body. God 
might certainly have created each one of us 
immediately Himself. Yet this is not His 
plan. He decrees inflexibly to give us life 
through our parents. May we not say here 
that parents are God's co-creators ? Do they 
not give existence to other human beings? 
Yea, and without them those that exist would 
have no existence! Here, indeed, is shown 
the unique dignity of Matrimony. How 
divine the whole plan appears! Men are 
made for God and heaven. Their destiny is 



DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 193 

to everlasting friendship with the divine 
Lover of all. The angelic choirs are to be 
their associates. And all are to love one 
another with the God who made them. But 
all these gifts of God, with life itself, come 
through the agency of other creatures. It 
is as though the Creator would not work 
alone. He will have His creatures share His 
glory with Him. 

It is the same in all the ordinary needs 
of human life. How necessary education is. 
But God teaches us through others. He has 
invented science, language, letters. Others 
above us have teaching capacity. We must 
go to them. No one is sufficient for himself. 
The divine Giver of good things has given 
stores of light and learning to men of genius 
and power in ages gone by — the sages and 
philosophers of Greece and Rome, the think- 
ers, poets, orators, historians, scientists, 
lawyers, mathematicians, artists, writers of 
the world — and through them God gives us 
of His abundance. How could we live with- 
out houses, means of transit, arts of farm- 
ing, building, healing, and labouring in a 
thousand different ways, for the many varied 
wants, day by day and hour by hour of 
peoples, nations, and individuals ? God pro- 
vides us with all through the hands of our 



194 DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 

fellow-creatures. He wills that we love both 
Him and one another ; and so, in order to do 
this, He makes us dependent not only on 
Himself, but on one another, too. Thus we 
are bound to help one another and so to love 
one another. Life here below then becomes 
a true preparation for life hereafter. The 
love of God and of one another runs through 
all things. 

Coming now to the divine order of grace, 
it is to be fully expected that God will work 
herein as He does in nature. So it is, indeed, 
in the work of all works, that of the incar- 
nation. It might have been supposed that in 
so marvellous an undertaking the Creator 
would have worked alone. Yet it was not 
so. In a way closer and more exquisite and 
intimate than ever. He wills to have and to 
form His sacred humanity from the flesh 
and blood of a human mother. O mystery 
of mysteries! What a co-operation, what 
an association of a creature with the Cre- 
ator ! God wills to put Himself in utter de- 
pendence on His creature here. He will not 
have a body but through her. As a new- 
born babe He will be kept from cold through 
her. He, the Lord of all, wills not to feed 
Himself. She shall do it; yea, with the 
stream of her own most pure life ! O what 



DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 195 

union! What love! What choice! What 
preference ! The ministrations of a mother 
to the Creator! And He willed to stand, 
and to sit, and to walk, and to lie down 
through her ! He who could do all alone did 
all through her! 

As Our Lord is the source of all grace to 
mankind, and He has willed to come to us 
through His blessed mother, so it has been 
truly said that all our graces come through 
Mary/ This is not difficult to understand, 
seeing as we do the analogy of the natural 
order. It seems to be altogether according 
to the divine plan for the Creator to use His 
creatures in accomplishing His works, as in 
nature, so in grace. Ever taking it, as in 
truth it is, God the source of grace and Mary 
its appointed channel, it seems but part of 
the beautiful scheme of divine wisdom and 
love, arranged to make us more and more 
loving both to God and to the chosen creat- 
ures of His hand. And following on the 
same wondrous workings of the divine Prov- 
idence, we may see also all the bright angelic 
choirs receiving from their queen the graces 
of God, passing them on to the patriarchs, 
prophets, apostles, and saints, and these in 

^Totum nos habere voluit per Mariam. St. Bern., Serm. 
de Nativ. Virg. Mar. 



196 DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 

their turn distributing them to the souls of 
men on earth. In this way our blessed 
Lady, the angels, and the saints are all very 
active, as well as very contemplative — all 
very much engaged with us, and very loving 
to us, as we in return should be so loving 
and grateful to them. 

And when we see all the supernatural 
workings of the Church militant on earth, we 
find, indeed, Our Lord God placing His di- 
vine treasures in earthly vessels and using 
our poverty and weakness for the greatest 
and divinest of His operations. The revela- 
tion of His truth is through the organisation 
of His church. The divine voice speaks 
through human tongues. The spirit of God 
works through the apostolic ministry. Thus 
''there are diversities of graces, but the same 
spirit. There are diversities of ministries, 
but the same Lord. There are diversities of 
operations, but the same God who worketh all 
in all."^ In the greatest of all His gifts to 
men, the gift of Himself, in His sacramental 
and sacrificial life, the same plan is ever ap- 
parent. As He gave Himself by His 
mother, He now gives Himself by His 
priests. It is as though His greatest gifts 
should be at once the work of God and man 

'i Cor. xii. 4. 



DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 197 

— as though He would have us love one an- 
other and depend on one another as well as 
love and depend on Himself. How great, 
how good, how loving is Our Lord God to the 
children of men! How little we realise the 
exaltation of our nature! 

All the sacraments of the Church are de- 
signed to work in the same way. The merits 
of Our Lord alone can wash away the sins 
of the world. ''Behold the Lamb of God! 
Behold Him who taketh away the sins of 
the world !'' Yet Our Lord wills to baptize 
by His priests, to absolve by His priests, to 
consecrate by His priests, to teach, to en- 
lighten souls, to work conversions, to com- 
municate the marvels of His grace by means 
of the priesthood of His Church. 

And while the people depend upon the 
priests for their spiritual needs, the priests 
depend on the people for their temporal 
needs. To them we turn for our food and 
clothing, the warmth we need, the structure 
of our houses and churches, the means of 
travelling, the requirements of health, the 
administration of justice, the protection of 
property, the government of the country. 
Thus there is ever giving and taking, that 
we may love and help one another. God 
Himself ever the great Agens principale — 



198 DIVINE AGENCY OF CREATURES 

the beginning and the end of all — ^yet in the 
ways of His wisdom and love making the 
creatures of His hand sharers in His life and 
work. Does not the inspired Apostle point 
to it all in his memorable words ? "Tht man- 
ifestation of the Spirit is given to every man 
unto profit. To one, indeed, by the Spirit, is 
given the word of wisdom; and to another 
the word of knowledge, according to the 
same Spirit. To another, faith in the same 
Spirit. To another, the grace of healing, in 
one spirit. To another, the working of mir- 
acles. To another, prophecy. To another, 
the discernment of spirits. To another, 
divers kinds of tongues. To another, inter- 
pretation of speeches. But all these things 
one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to 
every one according as He will."^ 



*i Cor. xii. 7. 



XV 
TIbe 2)ivine /iDo&cl of ©beMence 

*]^Y His incarnation the infinitely great, 
good, holy, loving God gives Himself to 
His creatures. Nobis datus, nobis natus — 
coming from heaven to earth, as the Saviour, 
the Teacher, the Model o£ men, the represen- 
tative Man, the propitiation for our sins, that 
we may all go to God through Him. All 
this and much more that our poor, feeble 
understanding can not grasp is brought be- 
fore us when we think of the great mystery 
of God made man. 

Shall we not then turn to Our Lord and 
be with Him in preference to all others ? If 
He comes to us, shall we not go to Him? 
If He thinks of us, shall we not think of 
Him? If He loves us, shall we not love 
Him? If He abides with us, shall we not 
abide with Him? If He gives Himself to 
us, shall not we give ourselves to Him? If 
He enjoys Himself with us, shall not we en- 
joy ourselves with Him? 

How much we have to learn from our 
blessed Lord when we look at Him as the 

199 



200 DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 

model and perfect Man! But let us give 
earnest and frequent consideration to His 
wondrous obedience. Too little do we think 
of it in its connection with the incarnation. 
"Let this mind be in you which was also 
in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of 
God, emptied Himself, taking the form of a 
servant, becoming obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross."^ Look at Our Lord 
coming down from heaven to earth, in obedi- 
ence to the will of His eternal Father. Oh, 
the infinite enjoyments of the eternal Trin- 
ity, the unspeakable life, the ineffable wis- 
dom, the ever-pouring love of Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost. What is this sudden hu- 
miliation of the divine, this contact of the 
all-holy spirit with poor created flesh ? Yes, 
and much more than contact : for the Word 
was made flesh. What can we say, but that 
it was the love of the Creator for the creat- 
ures of His hand? God so willed that the 
divine Son should come down, should empty 
Himself, should take our human nature, and 
that in the form of a servant He should 
become obedient even to suffering and death, 
and with all this the sacred humanity was 
perfect in all its faculties and powers. How 
perfect were Our Lord's human intelligence, 

^Philipp. ii. 5. 



DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 201 

memory, and will? Yet in all He was sub- 
ject to the divine wisdom and will, saying 
of Himself, '1 came not to do My own will, 
but the will of Him that sent Me/'^ But 
much more than all this, Our Lord, the eter- 
nal wisdom, is obedient to His own creatures. 
See His marvellous subjection to His holy 
Mother. He need not have received His 
sacred humanity from her. But He willed 
to do so. He was obedient to the laws of 
human life in her. Then as an infant, wholly 
subject to her motherly care and keeping. 
How can we ever compass the thought of 
such mystery? The Word made flesh so 
wholly subject to His mother ! What a posi- 
tion for the Creator! What a position for 
the creature ! How lovely is Mary's humil- 
ity in it all. "He that is mighty hath done 
great things to me.'' For "He hath re- 
garded the humility of His handmaid." It 
is as though God delighted to enrich His 
creatures with His own life and dignity, 
even though He bring Himself to subjection 
and humility ! And how He carries it all on 
to Mary and even to Joseph during those 
thirty long years of His hidden life at Naz- 
areth. "He went down to Nazareth, and 
was subject to them." And oh what sub- 

*John vi. 38. 



202 DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 

jection, what humiliation, and obedience to 
His wretched persecutors during His sacred 
passion; obedient to their awful w^ays, all 
along the dreadful stages of His sufferings, 
obedient to death, even the death of the 
cross. 

Is our blessed Lord going any further in 
obedience to His creatures? Ah, yes, in- 
deed ! Mystery on mystery. He carries on 
His incarnation in His sacramental and sac- 
rificial life, being a priest forever according 
to the Order of Melchisedec. And He is the 
head of the body, the Church. And He is the 
chief agent in all the Church's sacramental 
system. But He wills His priests to work 
with Him. Volo Pater ut ubi Ego sum, illic 
sit et minister Mens. Thus Our Lord bap- 
tizes. Our Lord absolves, Our Lord conse- 
crates. But see His obedience ! He waits to 
the very moment for the voice of His priest. 
And He who is the propitiation for the sins 
of the world stays the word of His forgive- 
ness till the voice of His creature moves Him 
to obey! And so the divine and perfect 
model Man carries on His obedience every 
day, hour, moment, living and working in 
His Church among the souls of men, in 
obedience to His eternal Father, and to the 
word of His own creatures! "Let this 



DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 203 

mind be in you which was also in Christ 
Jesus/' 

Let us remember that our first obedience 
is the ''obedience of faith/'^ How readily 
and lovingly should the creature be subject 
to the Creator here! It is of God to speak 
and of man to listen. Vox Domini in virtute. 
Vox Domini in magnificentia.^ It is of God 
to reveal and of man to believe. Faith is not 
a seeing or an understanding. It is a sub- 
mission — the submission at once of the intel- 
lect and will. Our Lord Himself committed 
His divine truths to the apostles : ''All things 
whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I 
have made known unto you.''^ Here is the 
deposit of faith, the legacy of revelation, of 
which the Church of the apostles is the di- 
vinely appointed trustee. And the Church 
in all ages hands on and unfolds the divine 
truth to the nations. "The Holy Ghost will 
teach you all things, and bring all things to 
your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to 
you.'^^ Thus it is that all the children of 
the Church are one and united, in faith, be- 
cause of their obedience to the divine author- 
ity. And if we are to advance in the virtue 
of faith, and in the perfection of Christian 

^Rom. xvi. 26, ^John xv. 15. 

^Ps. xxviii. 4. '•Id. xiv. 26. 



204 DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 

and religious life, the same obedience to the 
good Spirit should animate us in submitting 
our minds and hearts to all the authoritative 
utterances of the Holy See and the voice of 
the living superiors. Such is the dictate of 
faith and religion: and the twofold united 
working of confidence in God and diffidence 
in ourselves, which lie at the root of true 
spirituality, should ever move us hereto. 
Why do men turn from the Church's living 
voice? Because of confidence in themselves 
and diffidence in the Church. This is not 
Our Lord's divinely provisioned way. Con- 
fidence in God and diffidence in ourselves are 
among the first lessons of the '^spiritual 
combat." 

Obedience to law necessarily follows the 
obedience of faith — obedience to the laws of 
God, to the laws of the Church, to the powers 
that be, to the duties of our state and office, 
and to the good pleasure of God in all the 
toils and trials of life. Is not submission to 
the Creator ever the proper attitude of the 
creature? And was it not self-will that 
''brought death into this world, and all our 
woe"? Let it ever be remembered that 
obedience is a divine principle, giving us the 
will of God to be done. Truly it ought to be 
the joy of the creature to do the will of the 



DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 205 

Creator. How firmly resolved, therefore, 
we ought all to be never to break the law of 
God by any grave sin. How firm ought to be 
our stand here. No wavering must there be 
in the time of temptation. Waverers are 
those who have not come to a decision. But 
in the love and service of God we must 
always be decided. Love is preference : and 
God must ever be in the first place. Hence 
in all these things the divine will governs the 
human will. 'Thy will be done on earth as 
it is in heaven.'^ And as St. Teresa says, 
''We make it our joy to please God."^ 

Venial transgressions, as the Angelic Doc- 
tor tells us, are deviations from the right 
order to the end. Therefore, whenever and 
however the divine will is declared to us, 
whether by the commandments, the author- 
ity of the Church, the living voice of superi- 
ors, the duties of daily life, or the arrange- 
ments and permissions of Providence, we 
must train ourselves to the submission of 
our self-will and self-love to the orderings 
of the divine love and will above us. 

If our inner life of love with God be well 
established, what difficulty will there be ? Of 
course the two great factors in all these 
things will be prayer and mortification. 

^Exclamat. 



2o6 DIVINE MODEL OF OBEDIENCE 

Prayer, to lift the spirit upward to love and 
converse with God, maintaining the soul in 
the habitual sense of the divine presence, 
from which follows at once the full submis- 
sion to the divine will, come what may ; and 
mortification, to clear away the impediments 
to all this, arising from the clamorous exac- 
tions of the natural man. And as the divine 
love increases, so self-love decreases. ''He 
must increase, but I must decrease."^ But 
prayer it is, more especially mental and in- 
ternal, that brings the increase of divine 
love, and mortification it is, that, by the ways 
of detachment and self-renunciation, brings 
the decrease of self-love. In this way prayer 
helps mortification, and mortification helps 
prayer. Neither one nor the other can be 
dispensed with. They are charity's own in- 
separable attendants through life, and they 
grow with her growth and strengthen with 
her strength. And all spiritual life and prog- 
ress are reduced to the soul's advancement 
in the ways of love, prayer, and mortifica- 
tion. Divine love the end, and prayer and 
mortification the means thereto. 



^ohn iii. 30. 



XVI 
Hbstract an^ Concrete SptrftuaUts 

^T^ET theory and practice always go to- 
gether. We can not dispense either with 
one or the other. Men of the world combine 
knowledge and action in all the walks of life ; 
and we must be as wise in spirituals as they 
are in temporals. Thus let all cultivate well 
during the whole course of life the knowl- 
edge of spiritual things. What can compare 
in interest and importance to them? And 
certainly to priests and Religious they are 
the proper science of their profession. But 
the same may be said for Christian life. 
Have we not learned from the beginning that 
we were made for the knowledge, love, and 
service of God? Is it not, then, a thousand 
pities to find devout Catholics who make a 
point of observing the externals of their re- 
ligion, and take up a number of devotions 
and good works, yet having but little relish 
for the study of their inner cultivation, ad- 
vancement, and perfection? They love to 
read novels, history, and poetry; but some- 

207 



2o8 ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 

how they can not even be driven to the study 
of solid spirituality. 

Mental prayer and spiritual reading will 
be the two exercises whereby the knowledge 
of divine things will be gradually gained 
by a soul. All, therefore, should so arrange 
their time as to secure to themselves what 
is so requisite to their spiritual well-being. 
Reading is to the mind what feeding is to 
the body. All find time for bodily refection. 
It is a necessity of life. They ought to be 
as wise in attending to their spiritual wel- 
fare. Instinct tells people what is whole- 
some and what unwholesome diet; and all 
have due care of themselves in such things. 
Why are they not equally provident for their 
souls ? 

The fact is, they get into their ways, and 
then with difficulty get out of them. How 
is it consistent to find time for newspapers 
and novels and none for the reading of holy 
books ? They indulge the liking for one, and 
it grows into a pleasant habit. They do 
nothing for the other, and of course they 
can not love what they do not know. 

There is a great difference between the 
intellectual consideration of spiritual things 
and real progress in spirituality. The one 
is a form of intellectual activity, which may 



ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 209 

be merely of the natural man, exercising him- 
self, indeed, on the highest and best of ob- 
jects. The other is the working of grace and 
of the good spirit within the soul. The know- 
ing without the doing of things is an easy 
matter. One is of the intellect, the other of 
the will. A man may have much knowledge 
with little practice, as in natural, so in spir- 
itual things. It is as one having a light in 
hand, and neither going nor showing the 
way. Or as one having the power of lan- 
guage and never bringing it into use. Hence 
Our Lord's emphatic words, 'Tf you know 
these things, you shall be blessed if you do 
them."' 

The knowing is certainly intended for the 
doing. On the other hand, the doing is often 
not there for want of sufficient knowledge: 
as the prophet of old declared: "Therefore 
is my people led away captive, because they 
had not knowledge."^ People can not will 
things if they do not know them. Thus, nil 
volitum nisi prcecognitum. How evident, 
therefore, the importance of knowledge be- 
comes. All the world is alive to it. No man 
dares to undertake a profession without the 
careful study of its corresponding science. 
Men of business and ordinary labour are 

*John xiii. 17. *Is. v. 13. 



2IO ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 

bound to know what they have to do. Who- 
ever would set up as a cook or bricklayer 
without the proper knowledge of his work? 
Have we not all great spiritual work to be 
done? We are made for divine knowledge 
and love. As Christians we have to know 
this work. As Religious or priests we have 
to know its higher degrees and its perfect 
workings. Will not all this imply the study 
of a perfect life? Will it not imply the care- 
ful consideration of high principle, of mental 
and moral culture, of much design and steady 
aim in life, of nature's reformation, and of 
the whole life of grace, of the presence of 
God, of hindrances and helps on our way 
to Him; of desire, resolution, and practice 
in spiritual things; of actual and habitual 
union with God, and the ways and means 
thereto, by the many degrees of prayer and 
mortification ? All this is lifelong work. It 
is the formation of habit, and of many hab- 
its, and of the highest and most perfect 
habits of which man is capable. How can 
we content ourselves with an insufficiency of 
knowledge in spiritual things, which chil- 
dren of the world would never endure in 
temporals ? How can we bring ourselves to 
give but meagre time and care to such vast 
interests, affecting so closely the glory of 



ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 211 

God, the work of the Church and of souls, 
and our own great benefit, happiness, and 
merit here and hereafter? Certainly we 
must open our eyes to these magnificent 
truths, and love to think of them, and dwell 
upon them, if we are to have any hope of 
making them efifective and concrete in our 
own souls. Therefore we must love both the 
one and the other, the knowing and the 
doing. 

Yet knowledge alone, without living and 
working accordingly, is truly a deplorable in- 
consistency, dividing and molesting the spirit 
within. Certainly we know God, in order to 
love and serve Him. And if we advance in 
the knowledge of divine things, we ought 
more and more to desire and determine to 
make our knowledge practical and effective. 
Otherwise we come to theoretical spiritual- 
ity, having the light to see and not the cour- 
age to do. 

But let us be well assured that in the di- 
vine ways of true spiritual life the spirit of 
God is Himself the chief agent. So, indeed, 
it is in all the works of nature and grace. 
Deus est agens principale. The Holy Ghost 
is ever the Lord and life-giver; the leader 
and mover of souls ; the author and finisher 
of the work of our sanctification and per- 



212 ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 

fection. 'The kingdom of God is within 
yonJ' God lives and reigns therein, and "all 
things must be subdued to Him." This is 
indeed the perfection of the creature, to be 
in all its powers and workings wholly sub- 
ject to the Creator. Then He gives us of 
His life, light, love, and happiness, making 
us thus ''partakers of the divine nature.''^ 
All this is God's own work within the souls 
of men. And we work with Him. But 
unless we take care we are forever putting 
impediments to His work within us. And 
this is why so many do not advance as they 
might, could, would, and should in a spir- 
itual course. They cling to their own wills 
and ways and workings. They act imper- 
fectly and independently of the good spirit. 
They seek the things that are their own : and 
their very natural activity becomes a con- 
stant hindrance to the higher workings of 
grace. Is not this the constant teaching of 
the "Imitation,'' that we must leave ourselves 
to find God, that we must give all for all, that 
the more we deny ourselves, the greater 
progress we make ? And is it not all implied 
in Our Lord's sentence, "He that shall lose 
his life shall find it" ? And as He speaks in 
St. Catherine's "Dialogue," "The more thou 

^2 Peter i. 4. 



ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 213 

dost empty thyself of that which is thine 
own, the more abundantly will I fill thee 
with that which is Mine.'' Therefore, true 
spiritual life, union with God, contemplative 
prayer, the habitual sense of the divine pres- 
ence in prayer and action, all are gifts and 
graces of God to the soul, for ''every best 
and perfect gift is from above, coming down 
from the Father of lights."^ Our work, 
therefore, is to clear our souls of impedi- 
ments, that God may engage them with His 
light and love. It is of us to cleanse the 
vessel, it is of God to fill it. But if we con- 
tinue to run along the ways of nature by our 
own activities, we engage ourselves, our 
time, our powers, our workings ; and how are 
our minds and hearts then free for the com- 
munications of God's light and love? "The 
lover is free ; he is not held ; he gives all for 
all; and has all in all."^ It is altogether a 
matter of love and preference. If Our Lord 
God sees that our hearts willingly open to 
lower things, do we not thereby voluntarily 
put impediments to the higher ? It is not to 
be expected that the good Spirit will force 
His gifts upon us. He wills that we invite 
Him, choose Him, prefer Him, shutting our 
hearts to the entrance of others, to give the 

'James i. 17. ^Imit. iii. 5. 



214 ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 

preference over all to Him. ^'My son, give 
Me thy heart. "^ All this means we have to 
become loving and courageous souls. How 
are we the real thing before God short of 
this ? But the important and practical point 
here is that our principles have to be appHed 
to our acts — to the ordinary works of daily 
life. The perfection of virtues is not in the 
habit, but the act. Thus, habitual grace has 
to work the works of life within us. Grace 
works by her powers, as nature works by 
her powers. Nature works by mind, mem- 
ory, heart, and will, and by all the senses and 
members, and grace works by faith, hope^ 
charity, and all the virtues. The duties and 
works of daily life are the material of a vir- 
tuous and perfect life. Grace and love have 
to animate and inform them. Caritas est 
forma virtutum.^ Thus it is that the good 
Spirit governs us in the works of life: and 
hence the well-approved teaching that perfec- 
tion is in our ordinary actions. It will not be 
sufficient, therefore, to have the habit of faith 
within us, if we do not do the works of faith, 
living, thinking, speaking, and acting accord- 
ing to faith, and never against it. It must 
be the same with the habit of hope. The full 
trust in God's goodness and love for us, and 

iProv. xxiii. 26. ^st. Thorn. 2. 2. Q. 23. A. 8. 



ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 215 

in the abounding merits of Christ, and His 
loving readiness to forgive us — quoniam 
multus est ad ignoscendum^ — must govern 
our thoughts and acts, keeping us from pre- 
suming wrongly on the one hand and from 
discouragement, depression, and inane fears 
and scruples on the other : ever training our- 
selves to bring all delusive fancies under the 
governance of divine hope and love: being 
assured that with no will for grievous sin, the 
soul is justified and purified by love, con- 
trition, and the Mass, wherein Our Lord is 
the "propitiation for our sins/'^ Nor will it 
be enough to extol the praises of divine char- 
ity if we do not in daily life work practically 
for the love of God and our neighbour. Love 
is preference. Do we, therefore, love to 
turn to God as the first and best of all, choos- 
ing to give our thoughts and hearts to Him 
before all external things? Is it ever our 
delight to assist at Mass, the Divine Office, 
and mental prayer, and to sacrifice the pres- 
ence of creatures for that of our blessed 
Lord? Do we ''walk with God'' in the midst 
of the natural world around us, or are we 
habitually drawn from Him by things of 
earth and natural pleasures ? Do we volun- 

^Is. Iv. 7. 

^Peccata etiam ingentia dimittit. Cone. Trid. xxii. 2. 



2i6 ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 

tarily mortify natural love to gain divine 
love ? Does our love of God constantly over- 
flow to the love of souls ? How many poor 
souls in dire need of spiritual help are ever 
around and about us. What frightful 'leak- 
age'' is going on! ''An ass falls/' says St. 
Bernard, "and some one is found to raise it. 
A soul falls, and no one is found to attend 
to it."^ Yet Our Lord tells us that whatever 
we do to the least of His brethren, we do it 
to Himself. "Woe to the shepherds of Israel 
that fed themselves. Should not the flocks 
be fed by the shepherds? You ate, and 
clothed yourselves, but My flock you did not 
feed. The weak you have not strengthened, 
and the sick you have not healed. That 
which was broken, you have not bound up. 
That which was driven away you have not 
brought back; neither have you sought that 
which was lost : but you ruled over them with 
a high hand. And My sheep were scattered, 
because there was no shepherd; and they 
became the prey of the beasts of the field. 
There was none that sought them — there was 
none, I say, that sought them. Thus saith 
the Lord, I will come upon the shepherds, 
and will require My flock at their hands."^ 
We may often think and speak about 

*De Consid. iv. 6. ^Ezech. xxxiv. 2, etc. 



ABSTRACT SPIRITUALITY 217 

prayer, silence, mortification, observance of 
rule, and good use of time: about internal 
and external worship of God, in the Mass, 
and the Divine Office : about sobriety, punc- 
tuality, good external comportment, true fra- 
ternal charity, doing ordinary things well, 
and the rest. But ''be ye doers of the Word, 
and not hearers only."^ Do we love to 
make our mental prayer, love to keep 
silence, love to deny and sacrifice ourselves 
for God and our neighbour, to assist at Mass, 
and say the Divine Office? Sobriety, punc- 
tuality, external comportment ought to be 
formed habits, producing their correspond- 
ing acts readily and faithfully. We all ad- 
mire and praise them; do we practise them 
eflfectively? The constant and earnest aim 
of gradually developing the habit of perfect 
charity to God and one another by means of 
the assiduous exercise of prayer and mortifi- 
cation seems to be the one great guarantee 
for getting from abstract into solid concrete 
spirituality. 



'James i. 22. 



M 



XVII 
CbaritB's puritsinQ power 

LOVING soul has no will for deliberate sin. 
Yet it may have offended much in past 
years. It will still have many faults, frail- 
ties, and shortcomings: and maybe various 
''perverse habitudes. '^ On the other side, 
spiritual perfection is a very gradual work. 
It implies the formation of many habits, by 
which the powers of grace little by little get 
into the ascendency, and nature's imperfect 
ways are brought into subjection thereto, 
by which the human spirit is taught, and 
trained, and formed, and fashioned, accord- 
ing to the model life of Christ, yielding itself 
voluntarily and lovingly to the governance 
of the spirit of God. 

Premising that such souls are in right 
earnest in their maintenance of the life of 
grace, and that their constant will is to en- 
deavour to advance, each one in his own call- 
ing, and by means of the toils and trials of 
daily life, little by little, to the union of per- 
fect charity with God, it becomes a matter 
of the first importance for them to know 
clearly the right view to take of their faults, 

218 



CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 219 

and the proper method of managing them, 
in view to the main work of their spiritual 
progress and perfection. 

Before all things in this connection, let it 
ever be borne in mind that God Himself is 
the chief factor in the soul's purification and 
perfection. 'The kingdom of God is within 
you."^ And ''they who are led by the spirit 
of God, they are the sons of God."^ "If we 
live in the spirit, let us also walk in the 
spirit."^ Thus the spirit of God is at once 
the life giver, sanctifier, and perfecter of 
the souls of men, we freely and lovingly giv- 
ing ourselves to Him and working with Him 
in mutual love. This being so, and seeing 
that it is God "who worketh all in all,"* we 
shall clearly find the direct and most eifect- 
ual method of ridding ourselves of all im- 
pediments to the reign of God within us 
(among which are to be chiefly reckoned the 
manifold faults and fears of nature) by 
going directly to God Himself with love, and 
strong confidence in His goodness and "His 
mercies, which are over all His works,"^ and 
the merits of Christ, beneath which we 
shelter our miseries, making thus our acts 
of love and contrition, with the will to amend 

*Luke xvii. 21. *Roin. viii. 14. ^Gal. v. 25. 
*l Cor. xii. 6. *^Ps. cxliv. 9. 



220 CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 

and advance; and all this during the oblation 
of the Mass, at Holy Communion, or before 
the tabernacle, seeing that Our Lord is then 
so immediately "the propitiation for our 
sins/' Such a method of dealing with all 
our venial sins, faults, frailties, and inane 
fears is much to be preferred to the constant 
use of self-examen and confession, which 
breed so quickly fear and scrupulosity, thus 
keeping souls in their ''mournful lurking 
holes,'' and hindering them from rising to 
the light and joy of divine contemplation. 
Self-examination and confession, indeed, are 
directly requisite for mortal sinners and 
careless livers; and for those heedless and 
careless as to venial sins they are also di- 
rectly helpful. But here we are considering 
careful and loving souls, having no will for 
deliberate sin, and studying how best to ad- 
vance to the union of mutual love with God, 
and yet falling and failing seven times a 
day, yet rising and progressing as often by 
renewed love and earnest endeavour. Let 
all such well-willed souls attend now to what 
the Church and the saints say, and learn to 
be at once loving and courageous. The 
Council of Trent thus teaches : "Venial sins, 
while they may be rightly confessed, may 
also without fault remain unconfessed, and 



CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 221 

be expiated by other remedies/'^ And in- 
asmuch as in the Mass ''Christ is contained 
and mystically immolated, so this Holy Sac- 
rifice is truly propitiatory, and when herein 
we turn to God with true faith, love, and rev- 
erence, contrite and penitent, we hereby ob- 
tain His mercy and grace. For Our Lord 
God, appeased by this oblation, granting the 
grace of penance, forgives us even our great 
sins/'^ and further, "the sins we daily com- 
mit."^ And again, by receiving Holy Com- 
munion we are ''delivered from venial sins, 
and preserved from mortal sins/^* 

Thus also the Tridentine Catechism: ^'It 
is not to be doubted that the Holy Eucharist 
remits venial sins. Whatever the soul has 
lost by falling into lighter offences, all this 
the Eucharist cancels and repairs, as natural 
food restores and repairs the daily waste.'^ 
As St. Ambrose says, that "daily bread is 
taken as a remedy for daily infirmity."^ 

The Church also, during the octave of 
Pentecost, prays the Holy Ghost to renew 

'Venialia, in quae frequentius labimur, quanquam recte 
et utiliter in confessione dicantur, taceri tamen citra culpam, 
multisque aliis remediis expiari possunt. Sess. xiv. cap. v. 

^Peccata etiam ingentia dimittit. Ibid. Sess. xxii. cap. ii. 

'In remissionem eorum quae a nobis quotidie committun- 
tur peccatorum. Ibid. s. xxii. cap. i. 

^Liberemur a culpis quotidianis, et a peccatis mortalibus 
praeservemur. Id. s. xiii. cap. ii. 

^De Euch. 



222 CHARITY S PURIFYING PO WER 

our spirits, ''Quia Ipse est remissio omnium 
peccatorum/'^ Can it be doubted that the 
Holy Spirit taking possession of the loving 
soul by His sweet presence and love elim- 
inates every contrary element therefrom? 
And all this is clearly founded on the teach- 
ing of the Angelic Doctor, treating the sub- 
ject professedly and directly, saying exactly 
the same in the same words, and quoting the 
self-same passage from St. Ambrose; and 
further adding another exquisite reason, as 
follows : 

Res hujus Sacramenti est Caritas, 

''Non solum quantum ad habitum, sed 
etiam quantum ad actum, qui excitatur in 
hoc Sacramento, per quem peccata venialia 
solvuntur. Unde manifestum est quod vir- 
tute hujus Sacramenti remittuntur peccata 
venialia/'^ 

And again: 

''Major est virtus caritatis, cujus est hoc 
Sacramentum, quam venialium peccatorum. 
Nam caritas tollit per actum suum peccata 
venialia. Et eadem ratio est de hoc Sac- 
ramento/^^ 

Moreover, the Holy Doctor teaches that the 
Holy Eucharist secundum se has the virtue 

iPostcom. in Mis. Fer. iii. HU. Q. 79. Art. iv. 
^Ibid. ad. 3. 



CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 223 

of remitting every sin, ex passione Christi, 
qucB est fons et causa remissionis pecca- 
torum. And that therefore if one were to 
receive Holy Communion in mortal sin, cujus 
conscientiam et affectum non habet, devote 
et reverenter accedens, consequetur per hoc 
Sacramentum gratiam caritatis, quce con- 
tritionem perficiet, et remissionem peccati} 

Let us observe the point of all this 
teaching : 

Res hujus Sacramenti est caritas; that is, 
it all bespeaks the mutual love between Our 
Lord and the soul. 

Our Lord gives Himself to the soul in His 
wondrous sacramental life, and the soul 
offers, opens, and gives itself to Him. It 
is this coming of Our Lord to the soul in the 
love of charity which is the ''res Sacra- 
menti'' implying the mutual love in act, and 
from act to habit strengthening and pro- 
gressing ; the love moving the soul to sorrow 
for past sin, and avoidance thereof in future. 
Thus the soul is purified through Our Lord's 
merits, and its good dispositions working 
under Him. 

True conversion to God by the heart's love 
and preference, the pouring of one's soul be- 

»St. Thorn. Ibid. Art. iii. 



224 CHARITY'S PURIFYING POWER 

fore the divine presence, in homage, affec- 
tion, and contrition, the choice of God alone 
before all things, the lifting of mind and 
heart to Him by transcending created things, 
the sheltering of the soul beneath Our Lord's 
sacred merits in the Mass, the offering of 
the divine Victim in expiation of our sins, 
thus casting our miseries into the sea of 
God's mercies — by these and the like acts a 
soul is purified, justified, and accepted by 
the divine goodness, clemency, and love, 
without need of further anxiety, examen, 
and confession. And this because of the 
effluence of the divine presence within the 
soul, eliminating its sins and miseries, and 
uniting it in mutual love with God. 

Thus Denis the Carthusian: 

"As often as the soul turns itself with its 
whole heart to love God, resigning its own 
will, subjecting and conforming itself to the 
divine good-pleasure, and pouring itself 
forth to the majesty of God, so often it ob- 
tains the full remission of all its sins."^ 

And St. Teresa : 'T am certain it leaves the 
soul pure and cleansed from all its faults."^ 

Blosius : 'Truly, we have a more immedi- 
ate remedy against lesser sins, when we 
turn to God by a sweet affection of love, 

*De Prof. Monast. App. ^Way of Perf., xvii. 



CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 22^ 

than when we dwell upon the sins them- 
selves."^ 

Hilton: ''Whensoever thou risest against 
sin, set the point of thy thoughts on God. If 
thou do so, God fighteth for thee, and will 
destroy sin in thee/'^ 

Surius: ''Venial sins are far more easily, 
efficaciously, and perfectly effaced by a lov- 
ing and fervent conversion and application 
to God than by looking at the sins them- 
selves, even with contrition. This is a hid- 
den exercise, known to a few, and little 
used."' 

Moreover, the teaching of the Angelic Doc- 
tor is that love's power frees the soul not 
only from sin, but from the punishment due 
to it also: "God accepts rather the love of 
the heart than external acts. But by exter- 
nal acts a soul is freed both from sin and 
penalty. Therefore in like manner is it freed 
by the love of the heart. Thus, contrition 
rising from love may avail to free the soul 
both from guilt and punishment."^ 

Here we have at once 

Peace, Progress, Purification^ 
for every well-willed soul in the way of spir- 

*Spec. Mon. v. '^ Scale. 

sPraef. to ''Gold, exerc." of Esch. 
*Supplem. ad. iii. P. Q. 5. A. 2. 



226 CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 

itual perfection, and all grounded and 
founded on the science of the Church and 
the saints. 

Moreover, in our own days the Holy 
Father, Pius X, has declared that He wills 
us all to go forward by frequent and daily 
communion, without the obligation of weekly 
confession. And why, indeed, should earnest 
and loving souls be habituated to so much 
needless examen and confession of venials, 
when they have no will for mortal sin, and 
when such effectual and plentiful means are 
supplied them daily and hourly of cancelling 
their faults, dispersing their fears, and puri- 
fying their souls ? And all this by the ways 
of sweet love, peace, and joy, and through 
the acceptance of Our Lord's own merits in 
the sacrament of His love. "And He is the 
propitiation for our sins."^ 

Thus it is, as Hilton says, that 

God fighteth for thee, 
and will destroy sin in thee. 

And thus it is, too, that we become 

loving and courageous souls; 

more and more under the governance of the 

^i John ii. 2. 



CHARITY'S PURIFYING PO WER 227 

Holy Ghost, less and less playthings of the 
devil, and victims of inane imagination. 

''God is light: and in Him there is no dark- 
ness. If we say that we have fellowship zvith 
Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do 
not the truth. But if we walk in the light, 
as He also is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another. And the blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin.''^ 



^Ibid. i. 5-7. 



XVIII 
XCbe 0over.nance of tbe Iboli? 6bOBt 

^ETs long as we live here below we have to 
deal with a twofold life within us. '^Not 
that is first which is spiritual, but that which 
is natural: afterward that which is spirit- 
ual/'^ We are born to nature before we are 
born to grace, and thus the natural man 
quickly steals a march upon the spiritual 
man. The things of sense surround us, and 
we are soon "drawn away and allured."^ 
Habits form by corresponding repetition of 
act, and while nature strengthens from use, 
grace remains weak from neglect. 

"Know you not that you are the temple of 
God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in 
you ?"^ By the life of grace we are in mutual 
love with God through charity : and "he that 
abideth in charity abideth in God, and God 
in him.''^ Therefore the spirit of God is 
within us. "We have not received the spirit 
of this world, but the spirit that is of God, 
that we may know the things that are given 



*i Cor. XV. 46. 
^James i. 14. 


3 1 Cor. iii. 16. 
H John iv. 16 




228 



GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 229 

us from God : which things also we speak, not 
in the learned words of human wisdom, but 
in the doctrine of the spirit. But the sensual 
man perceiveth not these things that are of 
the spirit of God ; for it is foolishness to him, 
and he can not understand. For what man 
knoweth the things of a man but the spirit 
of a man that is in him ? So the things that 
are of God no man knoweth, but the spirit 
of God."^ ^'Know you not that your mem- 
bers are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who 
is in you, whom you have from God ; and you 
are not your own ? For you are bought with 
a great price. Glorify and bear God in your 
body."^ ^^He who is joined to the Lord is 
one spirit.''^ ^'The charity of God is poured 
forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who 
is given to us.''^ Thus the Holy Ghost and 
the divine charity are ever together within 
us, seeing that He is the increated love, 
abiding and working within the souls of men 
through the habit of created charity,^ in 
order that He may move us freely and 
lovingly, by our own faculty of love, 
He and the soul ever in mutual love to- 

^i Cor. ii. 11-14. 'Id. 17. 

*Id. vi. 19. ^Rom. v. 5. 

^Oportet ponere caritatem esse habitum creatum in anima, 
quce quidem manat ab amore qui est Spiritus Sanctus 
(St. Thorn. I Sen. D. 27 Q. i. A. i). 



230 GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 

gether, and working in all promptly, easily, 
and sweetly, seeing that at once to nature 
and grace ''nothing is sweeter than love/'^ 

But alas ! ''the old man is still alive within 
us,'' as the "Imitation" says, and his long- 
standing, perverse, and habituated workings 
serve as constant impediments to the work- 
ings of the Holy Ghost in the life of divine 
charity. 

What, then, is to be done, but to offer our- 
selves to be "all for God"? This will imply 
the "getting out of the habitation of nature," 
and the getting under the governance of the 
spirit of God. This means a change of life 
and principle. "My Son, thou must give all 
for all, and be nothing of thine own."^ 
"Leave thyself, and thou shalt find Me."^ 
It implies much forming and unforming. 
"Here below, to live is to change. And to be 
perfect is to have changed very often."^ If 
we are to be the real thing, we must go to 
the root of the matter, which is the love of 
the heart. Do we really love and prefer God 
above all things? Love is the tendency of 
the will. Do we really will to be "all for 
Him"? Do we wish to have Him in our 
memory, by the habitual remembrance of the 
divine presence around, above, within us ; to 

^Imit. iii. 5. ^Imit. iii. 27. ^Ibid. 27- "^Newman, Developm. 



GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 231 

have Him constantly in the mind, by the 
knowledge of Himself and His wondrous 
works in nature, grace, and glory; to have 
Him in the heart, loving Him more and 
more, voluntarily choosing Him and prefer- 
ring Him to all the pleasures of created 
things? And are we wishing and striving 
little by little to bring all the workings of our 
faculties, senses, and members into due sub- 
ordination to the divine knowledge and love ? 
This is not, indeed, the work of nature, but 
of grace ; not of natural love, but of spiritual 
love ; not of the human spirit, but of the spirit 
of God. Therefore it is not to be accom- 
plished by any activities of our own. It is 
"God who worketh in us both to will and to 
accomplish."^ ''Likewise, the spirit also help- 
eth our infirmity."^ But we must be pre- 
pared to sacrifice and renounce the lower life 
for the sake of the higher, to leave the grati- 
fications of nature, and yield ourselves to the 
governance of the Divine Spirit. Why 
should this be considered very difficult ? We 
are all destined for it ultimately. Why not 
enjoy the benefit and merit of it here below? 
It is not a dead sacrifice, but a happy ex- 
change. To attain it we must just become 
loving and courageous souls. We must give 

^Philipp. ii. 13. 2Rom. viii. 26, 



2Z2 GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 

up a little to obtain much. We must let go 
the dust to secure the gold. We must leave 
the human to get to the divine. We are not 
good merchants if we are not prepared for 
this. Are not the children of the world wiser 
in their business than we are in ours ? 

Is not our offering in religion that of the 
holocaust?^ But this means we are to be 
"all for God.^^ 

Let us begin with an unreserved oblation 
of ourselves and the works of our life to 
God, remembering that our calling is that of 
mutual love and work with Him : for such is 
Christian, Religious, and spiritual life in 
different ways and degrees. Then in all God 
Himself is the principal worker, but we work 
with Him. This is why we should remem- 
ber His divine presence and cultivate more 
and more His knowledge and love. After a 
time the habits of inward life grow and 
strengthen, nature is gradually subdued to 
grace, and the human spirit to the divine. 
And the more faithfully a soul yields itself 
to the divine promptings and workings, the 
more fully does the divine spirit engage it, 
and work within it, till it lives habitually 
under the governance of the spirit of God. 

1 Status religiosus est quoddam holocaustum, per quod 
aliquis totaliter se et sua offert Deo. St. Thorn. 2. 2. Q. 186. 
A. 7. 



GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 233 

Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur^ ii sunt filii Dei} 
Qui adhceret Deo, unus Spiritus est.^ 

Like all other habits, the inner contem- 
plative habit between the soul and God is de- 
veloped by its corresponding repetition of 
act. Therefore the more a soul attends to 
the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, 
receiving its movement from Him, and act- 
ing faithfully according to Him, the more 
does this divine Lord and Master gain pos- 
session of His kingdom within it, till it be- 
comes His "homeliest home" on earth. But 
the counterpart of all this must be the re- 
nunciation of the natural man. For how 
can the soul be under two masters together ? 
The soul of man is the kingdom of God — ^by 
creation, redemption, and possession. We 
must give it all to Him. Impediments to His 
reign must be removed. 'Tet all that is 
within me bless His Holy name,"^ and let all 
our faculties, senses, and members little by 
little be subdued to Him, thus receiving from 
Him our life and every movement. 

It is recorded of Dame Gertrude More 
that she was "wholly in the hands and under 
the guidance of the spirit of God; that she 
sought not comfort from without, which she 
did not need, and which she had no leave 

'Rom. viii. 14. ^i Cor. vi. 17. ^Ps. cii. i. 



234 GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 

from her inward Lord and Ruler to seek. 
In her the Hght and efficacy of the inner 
spirit was infinitely above anything that 
could be wrought by human words or works. 
Thus, when such a soul looks not for aid 
from without, it is a sign that her interior 
Lord has provided for her needs from 
within; and the soul herself and all others 
should be satisfied. She contented herself 
with the presence of God in her soul, and 
with the working of His light and grace 
therein. To have gone her own way with- 
out leave from her Love within would have 
hindered and confounded her interior hap- 
piness.''^ 

''No soul is perfectly reformed but by im- 
mediate converse with God."^ 

How readily does the Spirit of God take 
the governance of every faithful and loving 
soul! Are not its faculties made for His 
sweet indwelling and moving power? But 
ordinarily His way of gaining His hold on a 
soul is but by very inward and gradual work, 
adapting Himself to the conditions of our 
poor, feeble nature, and gaining more and 
more sway within the powers through the 
strong principle of love, since even to nature 
herself ''nothing is sweeter than love." Thus 

^Life of D. Gert. More, by F. Baker, O.S.B. ^Ibid. 



GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 235 

it is that the good Spirit governs, mediante 
habitu caritatis. Et quidquid recipitur, per 
modum recipientis recipitur. So that while 
a soul is yet imperfect, many an impediment 
to His work will the Spirit find within. Yet 
He ^'helpeth our infirmity/'^ And as long as 
He sees the heart is right. His work within 
proceeds. Qui salvos facit rectos corde.^ 
Only little by little do the old habits of nature 
yield to the higher requirements of grace, 
the good Spirit gradually and gently sup- 
planting them by the habit of His own love. 
In this way the laws of nature are observed, 
and God and man work together. All moves 
freely and willingly from love; formerly, 
natural love, now divine love. And when the 
natural is subdued to the divine, then nature 
and grace go hand in hand together in the 
love and service of God. As the Psalmist 
says, Ambularimus cum consensu.^ And 
thus the Spirit of God possesses and governs 
His own, overflowing in His gifts and fruits 
to the loving and faithful soul. 

How delightful to be under the effluence 
of His divine wisdom; to see and judge of all 
things ex altissima causd^ from God's own 

^Spiritus adjuvat infirmitatem nostram. Rom. viii. 26. 

2Ps. vii. II. 3ps. liv. 15. 

^Qui cognoscit causam altissimam quae est Deus, dicitur 
sapiens simpliciter, inquantum per regulas divinas omnia 
potest judicare et ordinare. St. Thom. 2. 2. Q. 45. A. i. 



236 GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 

ineffable and infallible light. ''God is light, 
and in Him there is no darkness/'^ By con- 
tact with the Spirit of God man knows the 
things that are of God, and thus judges 
and orders the works of life according 
to Him.^ By the gift of understanding 
the good Spirit enables the soul to pen- 
etrate the truths of faith, the meaning of 
Holy Scripture, and the sense of spiritual 
books. By the gift of His knowledge He 
illuminates the mind with divine light in 
human things, showing us what we ought to 
believe, the views we ought to take, the 
course we ought to pursue, both in regard 
to our own souls and those of others. By 
His counsel He shows us how to use the 
right means in the particular circumstances 
in which we find ourselves : how to discern, 
decide, and move amidst the continually 
changing scenes and surroundings of daily 
life. His gift of piety maintains the soul in 
habitual affection toward God, giving us a 
delight in holy things, with a corresponding 
distaste for those profane and frivolous. 
For far too little for a soul that has found 
the Creator are the perishable gratifications 

^i John i. 5. 
^Ad sapientiam prius pertinet contemplatio divinorum, 
quae est visio principii ; et posterius dirigere actus humanos 
secundum rationes divinas. St. Thorn, ibid. A. 3. ad. 3. 



GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 237 

of creatures. Animce videnti Great or em 
angusta est omnis creatura.^ His gift of 
fortitude strengthens and sustains the soul 
in the labours it undertakes and the suffer- 
ings it endures in the service of God. ''With- 
out this gift no notable progress can be made 
in spiritual life. Prayer and mortification, 
which are its principal exercises, demand a 
generous determination to overcome all the 
difficulties to be encountered in the way of 
the spirit, which is so opposed to our nat- 
ural inclinations."^ And the fear of God 
maintains the soul in habitual reverence and 
submission to Him. By this gift the soul 
has a profound regard to the overwhelming 
majesty of God above it, with a correspond- 
ing horror of sin, and of everything opposed 
to the divine will; desiring constantly in all 
things to render to God a faithful and loving 
service. Charity, joy, peace, patience, and 
all the other virtues follow as the fruits of 
the Spirit, and the effects of His divine gov- 
ernance in the soul. For ''he who is joined 
to the Lord is one spirit."^ And "how hath 
He not with Him given us all things."^ Such 
as these attain to a happy equality in the 
midst of the inequalities of life. They find 

*St. Greg. Dialog, ii. 35. 
^Lallemant. Sp. Doctr., vol. ii, c. iii, sec. 13. 
^i Cor. vi. 17. ^Rom. viii. 32. 



238 GOVERNANCE OF HOLY GHOST 

the divine presence and love in all around 
them. They have come to the Fountain o£ liv- 
ing Water, which ''makes glad the city of God'' 
within them:^ and their souls are cleansed 
and delighted in the profusion of its heavenly 
streams, which flow around them as a cease- 
less torrent, in all the beauties of nature and 
grace. Before these living waters faults 
and fears all give way. ''If we drink them 
but once," says St. Teresa, "I am certain 
they leave the soul pure, and cleansed from 
all her faults.^ And the Spirit and the 
bride say, Come; and he that thirsteth, let 
him come : and he that will, let him take the 
water of life freely."^ 

"Ps. xlv. 4. 'Way of Perf., c. xix. *Apoc. xxii. 17. 



PRINTED BY BENZIGER BROTHERS, NEW YORK 



Standard Catholic Books 

PUBLISHED BY 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, 

CINCINNATI : NEW YORK : Chicago : 

343 Main St. 3^3^ Barclay St. 211-213 Madison St. 



Books marked net are such where ten per cent, must be added for postage. 
Thus a book advertised at net $1 00 will be sent postpaid on receipt of $1.10, 
Books not marked net will be sent postpaid on receipt of advertised price. 



DOCTRINE, INSTRUCTION, DEVOTION. 

ABANDONMENT. Caussade, S.J. net, 60 

ADORATION OF BLESSED SACRAMENT. Tesniere. net, 1 25 

ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, WORKS OF, ST. 22 vols. Each, net, 1 50 

ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING THE CATECHISM. Spirago. net, 1 50 
ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS. Semple. net, 35 

ART OF PROFITING BY OUR FAULTS. TissoT. net, 50 

BIBLE HISTORY. 50 

BIBLE HISTORY. EXPLANATION. Nash. net, 1 60 

BIBLE STORIES. Paper, 0.10; cloth. 20 

BIBLE, THE HOLY. 1 00 

BOOK OF THE PROFESSED. Vol. I, II & III. Each, net, 75 

BOYS' AND GIRLS' MISSION BOOK. By the Redemptorist Fathers. 35 
BREAD OF LIFE. THE. Complete Communion Book. net, 75 

CATECHISM EXPLAINED, THE. Spirago-Clarke. net, 2 50 

CATHOLIC BELIEF. Faa di Bruno. Paper, net, 0.15; cloth, net, 35 
CATHOLIC CEREMONIES. Durand. Paper, net, 0.15; cloth, net, 35 
CATHOLIC GIRLS' GUIDE. Lasance. net, 1 00 

CATHOLIC PRACTICE AT CHURCH AND AT HOME. Klauder. 

Paper, net, 0.20; cloth, net, 40 

CATHOLIC TEACHING FOR CHILDREN. Wray. 40 

CATHOLIC WORSHIP. Brennan, LL.D. Paper, 0.20; cloth. 30 

CEREMONIAL FOR ALTAR BOYS. Britt, O.S.B. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE DEVOTION. Grou, S.J. 
CHILD OF MARY. Prayer-Book for Children. 
CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. Devivier. 
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, SPIRAGO'S METHOD OF. 
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. O'Connell. 
CHRISTIAN FATHER. Cramer. Paper, net, 0.13; cloth, 
CHRISTIAN MOTHER. Cramer. Paper, net, 0.13; cloth, 
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL. McFaul. Paper, 
CONFESSION. Paper. 

CONFESSION AND ITS BENEFITS. Girardey. 
CONFIRMATION. Paper. 
COUNSELS OF ST. ANGELA. 
DEFENCE OF THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. HENRY VIII. 

O'DONOVAN. 

DEVOTION TO SACRED HEART OF JESUS. Noldin, S.J. 
DEVOTIONS AND PRAYERS FOR THE SICK-ROOM. Krebs, 

C.SS.R. Cloth, 
DEVOTIONS AND PRAYERS OF ST. ALPHONSUS. 
DEVOTIONS FOR FIRST FRIDAY. Huguet. 
DIGNITY AND DUTIES OF THE PRIEST. Liguorx. 
DIVINE GRACE. Wirth. 
DIVINE OFFICE. Liguori. 
EDUCATION OF OUR GIRLS. Shields. 
EPISTLES AND GOSPELS. Large print. 



net, 


35 


net. 


75 




60 


net. 


2 00 


net. 


1 50 


net. 


60 


net. 


25 


net. 


25 




10 




05 




25 




05 


net. 


25 


net, 


2 00 


net. 


1 25 


net. 


1 25 


net. 


1 25 


net. 


40 


net. 


1 50 


net. 


1 60 


net. 


1 50 


net. 


1 00 


met. 


25 



EUCHARISTIC CHRIST. Tesniere. net, 1 25 

EUCHARISTIC SOUL ELEVATIONS. Stadelman. net, 60 

EXPLANATION OF THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM. Kinkead. net, 1 00 
EXPLANATION OF THE GOSPELS. Lambert. Paper, net, 0.15; 

cloth, net, 35 

EXPLANATION OF THE HOLY SACRAMENTS. ILLUSTR. net, 1 CO 
EXPLANATION OF THE MASS. Cochem. net, 1 25 

EXPLANATION OF THE OUR FATHER AND THE HAIL 

MARY. Brennan, LL.D. net, 75 

EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYERS AND CEREMONIES OF 

THE MASS, ILLUSTRATED. Lanslots, O.S.B. net, 1 25 

EXPLANATION OF THE SALVE REGINA. Liguori. net, 75 

EXTREME UNCTION. Paper, 10 

FIRST COMMUNICANT'S MANUAL. 60 

FLOWERS OF THE PASSION. Th. de Jesus- Agon isant. 50 

FOLLOWING OF CHRIST. Kempis. 

With Reflections, 60 

Without Reflections* 45 

Edition de Luxe. 1 25 

FOUR LAST THINGS, THE. Meditations. Cochem. net, 75 

GARLAND OF PRAYER. With Nuptial Mass. Leather. 90 

GENERAL CONFESSION MADE EASY. Konings, C.SS.R. Flexible. 15 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. Verheyen, O.S.B. net, 30 
GIFT OF THE KING. 60 

GLORIES OF DIVINE GRACE. Scheeben. net, 1 60 

GLORIES OF MARY. Liguori. 2 vols. net, 3 00 

Popular ed. 1 vol. net, 1 25 

GLORIES OF THE SACRED HEART. Hausherr, S.J. net, 1 25 

GOFFINE'S DEVOUT INSTRUCTIONS. 140 Illustrations. Cloth, 1 00 

GOLDEN SANDS. Little Counsels for the Sanctification and Hap- 
piness of Daily Life. Third, Fourth and Fifth Series. Each, net, 50 
GREAT ENCYCLICAL LETTERS OF POPE LEO XIIL net, 2 25 

GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION. Liguori. net, 1 50 

GREAT SUPPER OF GOD. THE. Coube, S.J. net, 1 25 

GREETINGS OF THE CHRIST-CHILD — Poems. 60 

GUIDE FOR SACRISTANS. net, 85 

GUIDE TO CONFESSION AND COMMUNION. net, 50 

HANDBOOK OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Wilmers, S.J. net, 1 50 
HARMONY OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. Heuser. net, 1 25 

HELP FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY. net, 50 

HELPS TO A SPIRITUAL LIFE. Schneider, S.J. net, 1 25 

HIDDEN TREASURE. St. Leonard of Port Maurice. net, 50 

HISTORY OF ECONOMICS. Dewe. net, 1 50 

HISTORY OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN THE U. S. Burns, net, 1 25 
HISTORY OF THE MASS. O'Brien. net, 1 25 

HOLY EUCHARIST. Ltguori. net, 1 50 

HOLY HOUR OF ADORATION. Stang. net, 50 

HOLY MASS. Liguori. net, 1 50 

HOW TO COMFORT THE SICK. Krebs, C.SS.R. net, 1 25 

HOW TO MAKE THE MISSION. By a Dominican Father. Paper, 10 
ILLUSTRATED PRAYER-BOOK FOR CHILDREN. 35 

IMITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Bennett-Gladstone. 
Plain Edition. net, 50 

Edition de luxe, net, 1 50 

IMITATION OF THE SACRED HEART. Arnoudt, S.J. net, 1 25 

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, THE. Lambing, LL.D. 35 

INCARNATION, BIRTH, AND INFANCY OF CHRIST. Liguori. net, 1 60 
INDULGENCES. A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO. Bernad, O.M.I. net, 75 
IN HEAVEN WE KNOW OUR OWN. Blot, S.J. net, 60 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CATHOLIC FATHER. Egger. net, 50 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CATHOLIC MOTHER. Egger. net, 50 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CATHOLIC YOUTH. net, 50 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FIRST COMMUNICANTS. Schmitt. net, 60 

INSTRUCTIONS ON COMMANDMENTS AND SACRAMENTS. 

Liguori. Paper, net, 0.13; cloth, net, 25 

INTERIOR OF JESUS AND MARY. Grou. 2 vols. net, 2 00 

INTRODUCTION TO A DEVOUT LIFE. St. Francis de Sales, net, 60 
LESSONS OF THE KING. 60 

LETTERS OE ST, ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI. 4 vols., each yoL, net, I 60 



LIGHT FOR NEW TIMES. Fletcheb. „-* a 60 

LITTLE ALTAR BOYS' MANUAL. ' X Vk 

LITTLE BOOK OF SUPERIORS. n*« 75 

LITTLE CHILD OF MARY. A Small Prayer-Book. ' 35 

LITTLE MANUAL OF ST. ANTHONY. Lasanci. Illustrated. 25 

LITTLE MANUAL OF ST. JOSEPH. Lings. 6 25 

LITTLE MONTH OF MAY. McMahon. Flexible. net 25 

LITTLE MONTH OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY. net 25 

LITTLE OFFICE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. ' 05 
LITLE PICTORIAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS. New cheap edition. 1 25 

LOVER OF SOULS. THE. Brinkmeyer. net 1 00 

MANUAL OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST. Lasancb. net, 75 

MANUAL OF THE HOLY FAMILY. net, 60 

MANUAL OF THE HOLY NAME. ' 60 

MANUAL OF THE SACRED HEART. NEW. 60 

MANUAL OF ST. ANTHONY, NEW. net, 60 
MANUAL OF THEOLOGY FOR THE LAITY. Gsiermank. 

Paper, net, 0.20: cloth, net, 40 

MARIAE COROLLA. Poems. Hill. net, 1 25 

MARY THE QUEEN. 60 
MASS DEVOTIONS AND READINGS ON THE MASS. Lasakce. net, 75 
MEDITATIONS FOR ALL DAYS OF YEAR. Hamon, S.S. 6 vols, net, 5 00 

MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY. Baxter. net, 1 60 

MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY. Vercr¥ysse, S.J. 2 yoIs. net, 3 50 

MEDITATIONS FOR MONTHLY RETREATS. net, 1 25 

MEDITATIONS FOR USE OF SECULAR CLERGY. Chaignon. net\ 4 60 
MEDITATIONS FOR THE USE OF SEMINARIANS AND 

PRIESTS. Vol. I. Branchereau. net, 1 00 

MEDITATIONS FOR RETREATS. St. Francis de Sales. net, 76 
MEDITATIONS ON THE LIFE, THE TEACHINGS, AND THE 

PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST. Ilg-Clarke. 2 vols. net, 3 60 

MEDITATIONS ON THE MONTH OF OUR LADY. net, 75 

MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD. 50 

METHOD OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, SPIRAGO*S. Messmee. net, 1 50 

MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 60 

MISCELLANY. Liguori. net, 1 50 

MISSION BOOK FOR THE MARRIED. Girardey, C.SS.R. 60 

MISSION BOOK FOR THE SINGLE. Girardey, CSS.R. 50 

MISSION BOOK OF REDEMPTORIST FATHERS. Liguori. 60 

MOMENTS BEFORE THE TABERNACLE. Russell, S.J. net, 60 

MONTH, NEW, OF THE HOLY ANGELS. St. Francis de Sales, net, 25 

MONTH OF MAY. Debussi, SJ. net, 60 
MONTH OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY, The Little "Golden 

Sands." net, 25 

MORAL BRIEFS. Stapleton. net, 1 26 

MORES CATHOLICI; or. Ages of Faith. Digby. 4 vols. 25 00 

(Easy payment plan, $1.00 down; $2.00 a month.) 

MOST HOLY ROSARY. Cramer, D.D. net, 60 
MY FIRST COMMUNION, the Happiest Day of My Life. Brennak. net, 75 

MY LITTLE PRAYER-BOOK. Illustrated. 12 

NEW MONTH OF THE HOLY ANGELS. net, 25 

NEW SUNDAY-SCHOOL COMPANION. 25 
NEW TESTAMENT. Cheap Edition. 

32mo, flexible cloth, net, 15 
NEW TESTAMENT. Illustrated Edition. 

16mo, printed in two colors, with 100 full-page illustrations, net, 60 
NEW TESTAMENT. India Paper Edition. 

American Seal, limp, round corners, gilt edges. net, 90 
NEW TESTAMENT. Large Print Edition. 

12mo, large, net, 75 

NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES. Conaty, D.D. 60 

OFF TO JERUSALEM. Benziger. net, 1 00 

OFFICE, COMPLETE, OF HOLY WEEK. 46 

Cheap Edition, cloth, cut flush, 20 

OUR FAVORITE DEVOTIONS. Lings. net, 75 

OUR FAVORITE NOVENAS. Lings. net, 75 

OUR MONTHLY DEVOTIONS. Lings. net, 1 25 

OUR OWN WILL. Allen, D.D. ^ ,, ,, «, ««*» 75 

PARADISE ON EARTH OPENED TO ALL. Natale, S.J. net, 60 



PARISH PRIEST ON DUTY. THE. Heitser. net, 60 

PASSION, A FEW SIMPLE AND BUSINESS-LIKE WAYS OF 

DEVOTION TO THE. Hill, C.P. 25 

PASSION AND DEATH OF JE^US CHRIST. Liguori. net, 1 50 

PASSION FLOWERS. Poems. Hill. net] 1 25 

PASSION, THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS ON, FOR EVERY 

DAY OF THE YEAR. Bergamo. net, 2 00 

PEARLS FROM FABER. Brunowe. net, 60 

PEARLS OF PRAYER. 35 

PERFECT RELIGIOUS, THE. De la Motte. net, 1 00 

PIOUS PREPARATION FOR FIRST HOLY COMMUNION. 

Lasance. Cloth, net, 75 

POCKET MANUAL. A Vest-Pocket Prayer-Book in very large tyoe. 25 
POPULAR INSTRUCTIONS ON MARRIAGE. Girardey, C.SS.R. 

Paper, net, 0.13; cloth, net, 25 

POPULAR INSTRUCTIONS ON PRAYER. Girardey, C.SS.R. 

Paper, net, 0.13; cloth, net, 25 

POPULAR INSTRUCTIONS TO PARENTS. Girardey, CSS.R. 

Paper, net, 0.13; cloth, net, 25 

PRAYER-BOOK FOR RELIGIOUS. Lasance. net, 1 50 

PREACHING. Vol. XV. Liguori. net, 1 50 

PREPARATION FOR DEATH. Ligitori. net, 1 50 

QUEEN'S FESTIVALS. 60 

RELIGION OF SOCIALISM, THE CHARACTERISTICS AND. 

Ming, S.J. net, 1 50 

RELIGIOUS STATE, THE. Ligvori. net, 50 

ROSARY, THE CROWN OF MARY. By a Dominican Father. 10 

ROSARY, THE. Scenes and Thoughts. Garesche, S.J. net, 50 

ROSARY, THE MOST HOLY. Meditations. Cramer. net, 50 

SACRAMENTALS. Lambing, D.D. Paper, net, 0.15; cloth, net, 35 

SACRAMENTALS —- Prayer, etc. Muller, C.SS.R. net, 1 00 

SACRED HEART BOOK, THE. Lasance. net, 75 

SACRED HEART, DEVOTION TO, FOR FIRST FRIDAY OF 

EVERY MONTH. By Pere Hugvet. net, 40 

SACRED HEART, NEW MANUAL OF. 50 

SACRIFICE OF MASS WORTHILY CELEBRATED. Chaignon, S.J. 

net, 1 50 
ST. ANTHONY. Keller. net, 75 

ST. FRANCIS OF AS SI SI. Social Reformer. Dvbois, S.M. net, 1 00 

SECRET OF SANCTITY. St. Francis de Sales. net, 1 00 

SERAPHIC GUIDE, THE. A Manual for the Members of the 

Third Order of St. Francis. By a Franciscan Father. 60 

SHORT CONFERENCES ON THE LITTLE OFFICE OF THE IM- 
MACULATE CONCEPTION. Rainer. net, 50 
SHORT STORIES ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. From the French by 

McMahon. net, 1 00 

SHORT VISITS TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. Lasance. 25 

SICK CALLS. Mulligan. net, 1 00 

SOCIALISM AND CHRISTIANITY. Stang, D.D. net, 1 00 

SOCIALISM. Cathrein, S.J. net, 1 50 

SODALIST'S VADE MECUM. 50 

SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE, THE. Giraud. net, 2 00 

SPIRITUAL DESPONDENCY AND TEMPTATIONS. Michel, S.J. 

net, 1 25 
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR TEN DAYS' RETREAT. Smetana. net, 1 00 
SPIRITUAL PEPPER AND SALT. Stang. Paper, net, 0.20; cloth, net, 0.40 
ST. ANTHONY. Keller. net, 75 

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Social Reformer. Dubois, S.M. net, 1 50 

STORY OF THE FRIENDS OF JESUS. 60 

STORIES FOR FIRST COMMUNICANTS. Keller, D.D. 50 

STRIVING AFTER PERFECTION. Bayma, S.J. net, 1 00 

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER'S GUIDE TO SUCCESS. net, 75 

SURE WAY TO A HAPPY MARRIAGE. Taylor. Paper, net, 

0.13; cloth, net, 25 

TALKS WITH LITTLE ONES ABOUT APOSTLES' CREED. 60 

THOUGHTS ON THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. Lasance. net, 1 50 

TRUE POLITENESS. Demorb. net, 75 

TRUE SPOUSE OF JESUS CHRIST. LigVori. 2 yols. net, 3 00 

The same, one-volume edition* net, 1 25 



VENERATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. Rohner, O.S.B. net, 1 25 

VEST-POCKET GEMS OF DEVOTION. 20 

VICTORIES OF THE MARTYRS. Liguori. net, 1 50 

VISITS, SHORT, TO BLESSED SACRAMENT. Lasance. 25 
VISITS TO JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. Lasance. net, 50 

VISITS TO JESUS IN THE TABERNACLE. Lasance. net, 1 26 
VISITS TO THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT and to the Blessed Virgin 

Mary. Liguori. net, 60 

VOCATIONS EXPLAINED. 10 

WAY OF INTERIOR PEACE. De Lehen, S.J. net, 1 50 

WAY OF SALVATION AND PERFECTION. Liguori. net, 1 50 

WAY OF THE CROSS. Paper. 05 

WAY OF THE CROSS. By a Jesuit Father. net, 15 
WAY OF THE CROSS. According to Method of St. Francis 

Assisi. net, 15 

WAY OF THE CROSS. According to Eucharistic Method. net, 15 
WAY OF THE CROSS. According to Method of St. Alphonsus 

Liguori. net, 15 
WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES. Drury, Paper, net, 0.20; 

cloth, net, 40 

JUVENILES. 

ADVENTURE WITH THE APACHES. Ferry. 45 

ARMORER OF SOLINGEN. Herchenbach. 45 

AS TRUE AS GOLD. Mannix. 45 

BELL FOUNDRY, THE. Von Schaching. 45 

BERKELEYS, THE. Wight. 45 
BEARNE, REV. DAVID, S.J. 

SHEER PLUCK. 85 

MELOR OF THE SILVER HAND. 85 

THE GUILD BOYS* PLAY AT RIDINGDALE. 85 

NEW BOYS AT RIDINGDALE. 85 

THE WITCH OF RIDINGDALE. 85 

RIDINGDALE FLOWER SHOW. 85 

CHARLIE CHITTYWICK. 85 

BISTOURI. By A. Melandri. 45 

BLACK LADY AND ROBIN RED BREAST. By Canon Schmid. 26 

BLISSYLVANIA POST-OFFICE. By Marion Ames Taggart. 45 

BOB O'LINK. Waggaman. 45 

BOYS IN THE BLOCK. By Maurice F. Egan. 25 

BUNT AND BILL. Clara Mulholland. 45 

BUZZER'S CHRISTMAS. By Mary T. Waggaman. 25 

BY BRANSCOMBE RIVER. By Marion Ames Taggart. 45 

CAKE AND THE EASTER EGGS. By Canon Schmid. 25 

CANARY BIRD. By Canon Schmid. 45 

CARROLL DARE. By Mary T. Waggaman. 1 25 

THE CHILDREN OF CUPA. Mannix. 45 

COLLEGE BOY, A. By Anthony Yorke. 85 

COPUS, REV. J. E^ S.J.: 

HARRY RUSSELL. 85 

SHADOWS LIFTED. 85 

ST. CUTHBERT'S. 85 

TOM LOSELY: Boy. 85 

DADDY DAN. Waggaman. 45 

DAUGHTER OF KINGS. A. Hinkson. 1 25 

DIMPLING'S SUCCESS. By Clara Mulholland. 45 

DOLLAR HUNT. THE. Martin. 45 

DOUBLE KNOT AND OTHER STORIES. A. Waggaman and Others. 1 25 

EVERY-DAY GIRL, AN. By Mary C. Crowley. 45 

FATAL DIAMONDS. By E. C. Donnelly. 25 

FINN, REV. F. J., S.J. 

HIS FIRST AND LAST APPEARANCE. lUustratcd. 1 00 

THE BEST FOOT FORWARD. 85 

THAT FOOTBALL GAME. 85 

ETHELRED PRESTON. 85 

CLAUDE LIGHTFOOT. 85 

HARRY DEE. 85 

TOM PLAYFAIR. © 85 



FINN, REV. F. J., S.J. (Cont'd.) 

PERCY WYNN. 85 

MOSTLY BOYS. 86 

"BUT THY LOVE AND THY GRACE.'" 1 00 

MY STRANGE FRIEND. 26 

FIVE O'CLOCK STORIES; or. The Old Talcs Told Again. 76 
FLOWER OF THE FLOCK, THE, and tlie Badgers of Belmont. Eqan. 85 

FOR THE WHITE ROSE. Hinkson. 46 

FRED'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. Smith. 46 

GODFREY THE HERMIT. Schmid. 25 

GOLDEN LILY, THE. Hinkson. 4S 

GREAT CAPTAIN, THE. Hinkson. 46 

HALDEMAN CHILDREN. THE. Manmix. 46 

ILARMONY FLATS. Whitmirk. 86 

HEIR OF DREAMS, AN. O'Mallky. 46 

HOP BLOSSOMS. Schmid. 26 

HOSTAGE OF WAR. A. Bonksteel. 46 

HOW THEY WORKED THEIR WAY. Egan. 76 

INUNDATION, THE. Schmid. 46 

••T.\CK." Bv a ReliRious of The Society of The Holy Child Jesus. 45 

TACK HILDRETH AMONG THE INDIANS. 2 vols., each, 85 

JACK HILDRETH ON THE NILE. Taggart. Cloth. 85 

JACK O'LANTERN. Waggaman. 45 
JUVENILE ROUND TABLE. First, Second, Third Series. Each, 1 00 

KLONDIKE PICNIC. Donnelly. 85 

LAMP OF THE SANCTUARY. Wiseman. 25 
LEGENDS OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS from Many Lands. Lutz. 76 

LITTLE MISSY. Waggaman. 46 

LOYAL BLUE AND ROYAL SCARLET. Taggart. 86 

MADCAP SET AT ST. ANNE'S. Brunowk. 45 

MARY TRACY'S FORTUNE. Sadlier. 45 

MASTER FRIDOLIN. Giehrl. 25 

MILLY AVELING. Smith. Cloth. 85 
MORE FIVE O'CLOCK STORIES. In Prose and Verse. By a Religious 

of The Society of The Holy Child Jesus. 76 

MYSTERIOUS DOORWAY. Sadlier. 46 

MYSTERY OF CLEVERLY. Barton. 85 

MYSTERY OF HORNBY HALL. Sadlier. 85 

MY STRANGE FRIEND. Finn. 25 

NAN NOBODY. Waggaman. 45 

OLD CHARLMONT'S SEED-BED. Smith. 46 

OLD ROBBER'S CASTLE. Schmid. 25 

ONE AFTERNOON AND OTHER STORIES. Taggart- 1 25 

OUR BOYS' AND GIRLS* LIBRARY. 14 vols., each, 25 

OVERSEER OF MAHLBOURG. Schmid. 25 

PANCHO AND PANCHITA. Mannix. 45 

PAULINE ARCHER. Sadlier. 45 

PETRONILLA. Donnelly. 85 

PICKLE AND PEPPER. Dorsey. 86 

PILGRIM FROM IRELAND. Carnot. 46 

PLAYWATER PLOT. THE. Waggaman. 60 

gUEEN'S PAGE. Hinkson. 45 

ECRUIT TOMMY COLLINS. Bonestekl. 45 

ROSE BUSH. Schmid. 25 

ROUND THE WORLD. Vols. I. II, III, IV. Each. 85 

SEA-GULL'S ROCK. Sandkau. 45 

SHADOWS LIFTED. Copus, S.J. 85 
SPALDING. REV. H^ S.J.: 

THE MARKS OF THE BEAR CLAWS. 85 

CAVE BY THE BEECH FORK. 86 

THE SHERIFF OF THE BEECH FORK. 85 

THE RACE FOR COPPER ISLAND. 85 

STRONG-ARM OF AVALON. Waggaman. 85 

SUMMER AT WOODVILLE. Sadlier. 45 

TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. De Capella. 75 

TALISMAN, THE. Sadlier. 60 

TAMING OF POLLY. Dorsey. 85 

THREE GIRLS AND ESPECIALLY ONE. Taggart. 45 

THREE LITTLE KINGS, Giehrl. 26 



TOM'S LUCKPOT. Waggaman. 

TOORALLADY. Walsh. 

TRANSPLANTING OF TESSIE. Waggamaw. 

TREASURE OF NUGGET MOUNTAIN. Taggaet. 

TWO LITTLE GIRLS. Mack. 

VIOLIN MAKER. THE. Smith. 

WAGER OF GERALD O'ROURKE, THE. Finn-Thiele. net, 

WAYWARD WINIFRED. Sadlier. 

WHERE THE ROAD LED AND OTHER STORIES. Sadliek and 

others. 
WINNETOU. THE APACHE KNIGHT. Taggart. 
WRONGFULLY ACCUSED. Herchenbach. 
YOUNG COLOR GUARD, THE. Bonesteel. 

NOVELS AND STORIES. 

"BUT THY LOVE AND THY GRACE." Finn, S.J. 

CARROLL DARE. Waggaman. 

CIRCUS RIDER'S DAUGHTER, THE. Brackel. 

CONNOR D'ARCY'S STRUGGLES. Berthold*. 

CORINNE'S VOW. Waggaman. 

DION AND THE SIBYLS. Keon. 

FABIOLA. Wiseman. Illustrated. 

FABIOLA'S SISTER. Clarke. 

FATAL BEACON, THE. Brackel. 

HEARTS OF GOLD Edhor. 

HEIRESS OF CRONENSTEIN. THE. Countess Hahn-Hahw. 

HER BLIND FOLLY. Holt. 

HER FATHER'S DAUGHTER. Hinkson. net, 

IDOLS; or. The Secrets of the Rue Chaussee d'Antin. De Nave«y. 

IN THE DAYS OF KING HAL. Taggart. net, 

IN GOD'S GOOD TIME. Ross. 

••KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS." Harrisom. 

LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER. Mari^. 

LINKED LIVES. Douglas. 

MARCELLA GRACE. Mulholland. Illustrated Edition. 

MIRROR OF SHALOTT. Benson. net, 

MISS ERIN. Francis. 

MONK'S PARDON. THE. De Navery. 

MR. BILLY BUTTONS. Lecky. 

"NOT A JUDGMENT." Keon. 

OTHER MISS LISLE, THE. Martin. 

OUT OF BONDAGE. Holt. 

OUTLAW OF CAMARGUE, THE. Lamothe. 

PASSING SHADOWS. Yorke. 

PERE MONNIER'S WARD. Lecky. 

PILKINGTON HEIR, THE. Sadlier. 

PRODIGAL'S DAUGHTER, THE. By Lelia Hardin Bugg. 

RED INN OF ST. LYPHAR, THE. A Romance of La Vendee. Sadlier. 

ROMANCE OF A PLAYWRIGHT. By Vte. Henri de Bornier. 

ROSE OF THE WORLD. Martin. 

ROUND TABLE OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. 

Complete Stories, with Biographies, Portraits, etc. 
ROUND TABLE OF FRENCH CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. 

Complete Stories, with Biographies, Portraits, etc. 
ROUND TABLE OF GERMAN C?ATHOLIC NOVELISTS. Illustrated. 
ROUND TABLE OF IRISH AND ENGLISH CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. 

Complete Stories, Biographies, Portraits, etc. Qoth, 
RULER OF THE KINGDOM, THE, and other Phases of Life 

and Character. Keon. 
SECRET OF THE GREEN VASE. CooM. 
SENIOR LIEUTENANT'S WAGER. 
SOGGARTH AROON. Guinan, C.C. 
THAT MAN'S DAUGHTER. Ross. 
TRAIL OF THE DRAGON. 
TRAINING OF SILAS, THE. Devine, S.J. 
TRUE STORY OF MASTER GERARD, THE. Sadli^ 
UNRAVELING OF A TANGLE, THE. Taggart. 
VOCATION OF EDWARD CONWAY- Egah. 



45 





45 





eo 





85 





45 





45 





35 





85 


1 


25 





85 





45 


45 




00 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




90 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




00 




50 




25 




26 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




00 




25 




00 




25 


1 50 




50 


5 


60 


3. 


60 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 




25 


125 



WAY THAT LED BEYOND. By J. Harrison. 1 25 

WHEN LOVE IS STRONG. Keon. 1 26 

WOMAN OF FORTUNE, A. By Christian Reid. 1 21 

WORLD WELL LOST. By Esther Robertson. 76 

LIVES AND HISTORIES. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA. Edited by 

O'CoNOR, S.J. net, 1 25 

ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS. Semple, S.J. net, 35 

BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY. Shahan. net, 2 00 

CHURCH HISTORY. Businger. 75 

GOLDEN BELLS IN CONVENT TOWERS. net, 1 00 

HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Brueck. 2 vols., net, 3 00 
HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Shea. net, 1 50 

HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION. CoBBEtT. net, 75 
LIFE OF BLESSED VIRGIN. Illustrated. Rohner. net, 1 25 

LIFE OF CHRIST. Illustrated. Cochem. net, 1 25 

LIFE OF POPE PIUS X. 2 00 

LIFE OF MOST REV. JOHN HUGHES. Brann. net, 75 

LIFE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST AND 

OF HIS VIRGIN MOTHER MARY. Brennan. 4to. net, 10 00 

(Easy payment plan, $1.00 down, $1.00 a month.) 
LIFE OF SISTER ANNE KATHERINE EMMERICH. Wegener, O.S.A. 

net, 1 75 
LIFE OF VEN. MARY CRESCENTIA HOESS. Degman, O.S.F. net, 1 25 
LITTLE LIVES OF SAINTS FOR CHILDREN. Berthold. 111. 

Cloth, 
LITTLE PICTORIAL LIVES OF SAINTS. New, cheap edition. 
LOURDES. Clarke, S.J. 
MIDDLE AGES. THE. Shahan. 

PATRON SAINTS FOR CATHOLIC YOUTH. 3 vols. Each, 
PICTOFJIAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS. 
ST. ANTHONY, THE SAINT OF THE WHOLE WORLD. 

Ward. Cloth. 
STORY OF JESUS. Illustrated. 
STORY OF THE DIVINE CHILD. Lings. 
VICTORIES OF THE MARTYRS. Liguori. 

THEOLOGY, LITURGY. SERMONS. SCIENCE, AND 
PHILOSOPHY. 

ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS. Semple, S.J. 35 

BENEDICENDA. Schulte. net, 1 50 

BREVE COMPENDIUM THEOLOGIAE. Berthier. net, 2 50 

BUSINESS GUIDE FOR PRIESTS. Stang. net, 1 <K 

CANONICAL PROCEDURE. Doste. net, 1 60 

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. Devivier. net, 2 00 

CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY: God. Driscoll. net, 1 50 

CHRIST IN TYPE AND PROPHECY. Maas, S.J. 2 vols., net, 4 00 
CHURCH TREASURER'S PEW COLLECTION AND RECEIPT 

BOOK. net, 1 00 

COMPENDIUM JURIS CANONICL Smith. net, 2 00 

COMPENDIUM JURIS REGULARIUM. Bachofen. net, 2 50 

COMPENDIUM SACRAE LITURGIAE. Wapelhorst. net, 2 50 

CONSECRANDA. Schulte. net, 1 50 

DATA OF MODERN ETHICS EXAMINED. Ming, S.J. 2 00 

DIARY, ORDO AND NOTE-BOOK. Cloth, net, 1.00; flexible 

leather, net, 1 50 

ELEMENTS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. Smith, D.D. 8 vols., 

each, net, 2 50 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HOLY 

SCRIPTURES. Gigot, S.S. net, 2 50 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HOLY 

SCRIPTURES. Abridged Edition. Gigot, S.S. net, 1 50 

GOD KNOWABLE AND KNOWN. Ronayne, S.J. net, 1 50 

GOOD CHRISTIAN. THE. Allen, D.D. 2 vols. net. 6 00 





60 




1 25 




1 00 


net. 


2 00 




60 


net. 


2 00 


net. 


75 


net. 


60 




60 


net. 


1 50 



HISTORY OF THE MASS AND ITS CEREMONIES IN THE 

EASTERN AND WESTERN CHURCH. O'Brien. net, 1 25 

HUNOLT'S SERMONS. 12 vols.. net/25 00 

INTRODUCTION TO STUDY OF OLD TESTAMENT. Vol. I 

and II. GiGOT. Each, net, 1 50 

JESUS LIVING IN THE PRIEST. Millet-Byrne. net] 2 00 

LIBER STATUS ANIMARUM; or Parish Census Book. Pocket 

Edition, net, 0.25; Large Edition, half-leather, net. 3 00 

MARRIAGE PROCESS IN THE UNITED STATES. Smith. net\ 2 50 
MANUAL OF THEOLOGY FOR THE LAITY. Geiermann. 

Paper, net, 0.20; cloth, net, 40 

MEDULLA FUNDAMENTALIS THEOLOGIAE MORALIS. Stang. 

MORAL PRINCIPLES AND MEDICAL PRACTICE. Coppens, **' ' 

NATURAL LAW AND LEGAL PRACTICE. Holaind, S.J. n^\\ 2 00 

OUTLINES OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. Hunter, ^.J. 3 vols,, net, 1 50 
OUTLINES OF NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. GiGOT. Cloth. net, 1 50 
OUTLINES OF SERMONS. Schuen. net, 2 00 

PASTORAL THEOLOGY. Stang, D.D. net, 1 60 

PHILOSOPHIA MORALI, DE. Russo. net, 2 00 

POLITICAL AND MORAL ESSAYS. Rickaby, S.J. net, 1 50 

PRAXIS SYNODALIS. net, 75 

PRIEST IN THE PULPIT. Schuech-LuebbermanN. net, 1 60 

REGISTRUM BAPTISMORUM. net, 3 50 

REGISTRUM MATRIMONIORUM. net, 3 00 

RELATION OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY TO PHI- 
LOSOPHY. DE Mercier. net, 35 
RIGHTS OF OUR LITTLE ONES. Conway, S.J. Paper, 10 
RITUALE COMPENDIOSUM. net, 90 
SANCTUARY BOYS' ILLUSTRATED MANUAL. McCallem, S.S. net, 50 
SERMONS, ABRIDGED, FOR SUNDAYS. Liguori. net, 1 26 
SERMONS FOR CHILDREN OF MARY. Callerio. net, 1 50 
SERMONS FOR CHILDREN'S MASSES. Frassinetti-Lings. net, 1 60 
SERMONS FOR THE SUNDAYS AND CHIEF FESTIVALS OF 

THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR. Pottgeisser, S.J. 2 vols. net, 2 60 
SERMONS FROM THE LATINS. Baxter. net, 2 00 

SERMONS ON DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 

Bierbaum. net, 76 

SERMONS ON THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. Scheuer- 

Lasance. net, 1 60 

SERMONS ON THE ROSARY. Frings. net, 1 00 

SHORT SERMONS FOR LOW MASSES. Schouppe, S.J. net, 1 25 

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE CONFESSIONAL. Shieler. 3 50 
VADE MECUM SACERDOTUM. Cloth, net, 0.25; Morocco, net, 60 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

ACROSS WIDEST AMERICA. Devine, S.J. net, 1 60 

BENZIGER'S MAGAZINE. The Popular Catholic Family Magazine. 

Subscription per year, 2 00 

BONE RULES; or. Skeleton of English Grammar. Tabb. 60 

CATHOLIC HOME ANNUAL. Stories by Best Writers. 25 

CORRECT THING FOR CATHOLICS. Bitgg. net, 75 

ELOCUTION CLASS. O'Grady. net, 50 

GENTLEMAN, A. Egan. net, 76 

HOW TO GET ON. Feeney. net, 1 00 

HYMN-BOOK. 36 

LADY, A. Manners and Usages. BvGG. net, T5 

LITTLE FOLKS' ANNUAL. 10 
READINGS AND RECITATIONS FOR JUNIORS. O'Grady. net, 60 

RECORD OF BAPTISMS. 14x10 inches, 3 styles. 3.00, 4.00, 6 00 

RECORD OF MARRIAGES. 14x10 inches. 3 styles. 3.00, 4.00, 6 00 

SELECT RECITATIONS FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS AND 

ACADEMIES. O'Grady. 1 00 

SONGS AND SONNETS. Egan. 1 00 

SURSUM CORDA. Hymns. Paper, 0.16; cloth, 26 



SURSUM CORDA. With iCnglish and German Text. 46 

VISIT TO EUROPE AND THE HOLY LAND. Fairbanks. 1 50 

WHAT CATHOLICS HAVE DONE FOR SCIENCE. Brennan. net, 1 25 
PRAYER BOOKS. 

Benziger Brothers publish the most complete line of prayer-books in this 
country, embracing Prayer-books for Children; Prayer-books for First 
Communicants; Prayer-books for Special Devotions; Prayer-books for 
General Use. Catalogue will be sent free on application, 
SCHOOL-BOOKS. 

Benziger Brothers' school text-books are considered to be the finest pub- 
lished. They embrace New Century Catholic Readers (Illustrations in 
Colors); Catholic National Readers; Catechisms; History; Grammars; 
Spellers; Elocution; Charts. 

# » 



A HOME LIBRARY FOR $1 DOWN. 



20 



Original American Stories for the Youngs by the 
Very Best Catholic Authors, 

COPYRIGHTED BOOKS and a YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION to 
BENZIGER'S MAGAZINE (in itself a library of good reading.) 

Regular Price of Books, . . $11.70 |^ Regular Price, 
Regular Price of Benziger's Magazine, 2.00 I $13.70 

Special Net Price, $10.00 $1*00 Down. $1,00 a Month, 

You get the books at once, and have the use of them, while making easy pay 
ments. Send us only $1.00, and we will forward the books at once. $1.00 
entitles you to immediate possession. No further payment need be made for 
a month. Afterward you pay $1.00 a month. 



THIS IS THE EASY WAY TO GET A LIBRARY. 

are the Best Books that can be 
Catholic Youth AT ANY PRICl 

ANOTHER EASY WAY OF GETTING BOOKS. 



And remember these are the Best Books that can J?e^ placed in the hands of 



Each year we publish four New Novels by the best Catholic authors. 
These novels are interesting beyond the ordinary; not strictly religious, but 
Catholic in tone and feeling. 

We ask you to give us a Standing Order for these novels. The price is 
$1.25 a volume postpaid. The $5.00 is not to be paid at one time, but $1.25 
each time a volume is published. 

As a Special Inducement for giving us a standing order for these novels, 
we will give you free a subscription to Benziger's Magazine. This Magazine 
is recognized as the best and handsomest Catholic magazine published. The 
regular price of the Magazine is $2.00 a year. 

Thus for $5.00 a year — paid $1.25 at a time — you will get four good 
books and receive in addition free a year's subscription to Benziger's Maga- 
zine. The Magazine will be continued from year to jrear, as long as the stand- 
ing order for the novels is in force, which will be till countermanded. 

Send $1.25 for the first novel and get your name placed on the sub- 
scription list of Benziger's Magazine. 

10 



THE BEST STORIES AND ARTICLES 

1000 Illustrations a Year 

BEMzioors fm^^zmt 

The Popular C^ihotic Family Monthly 
RECOMMENDED BY 70 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 
Subscription, $2.00 a Year 



What Benziger*8 Magazine Gives its Readers: 

Three complete novels of absorbing interest — equal to three 
books selling at $1.25 each. 

Fifty complete stories by the best writers — equal to a book 
of 300 pages selling at $1.25. 

One thousand beautiful illustrations. 

Forty large reproductions of celebrated paintings. 

Twenty articles — equal to a book of 150 pages — on travel 
and adventure ; on the manners, customs and home- 
life of peoples ; on the haunts and habits of animals. 

Twenty articles — equal to a book of 150 pages — on historic 
events, times, places, important industries. 

Twenty articles — equal to a book of 150 pages — ^on the 
fine arts ; celebrated artists and their paintings, sculp- 
ture, music, etc., and nature studies. 

Twelve pages of games and amusements for in-doors and 
out-of-doors. 

Seventy-two pages of fashions, fads, and fancies, gathered 
at home and abroad, helpful hints for home workers, 
household column, cooking recipes, etc. 

** Current Events," the important happenings over the 
whole world, described with pen and pictiures. 

Twelve prize competitions, with valuable prizes. 



MR 13 1911 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Feb. 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



jTa <. nf( 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



MAR 



10 191 



